As reported last month, JJ Abrams is doing a ‘road show’ to promote the Star Trek film to people in the press, publicity and distribution. His first stop was today in London, where he was joined by Simon Pegg. They showed off the new trailer as well as four scenes from the film. The first reports are online now. [UPDATE: more reports online plus one sent in directly to TrekMovie] Details and many many spoilers below.

Included in Uhura’s drink order was a ‘Budweiser Classic’ and a Cardassian drink

When imploring
Kirk to join Starfleet Pike tells him he could spend four years training and have a ship in eight

Pike implies that Kirk’s father was lost on the USS Kelvin in a ‘no win scenario’ but he saved many lives in the short time he was in command

Pike refers to Starfleet as "a peace keeping and humanitarian Armada"

Kirk’s motorcycle is futuristic but not a ‘hoverbike’ like the ones cops have scene in trailer

Shuttle seen in this scene and others is ‘reminiscent of TOS shuttles, but stretched’

McCoy sneaks Kirk onto Enterprise

McCoy’s ruse to get Kirk onto Enterprise is that he is allowed to bring a patient on board (and so he infects Kirk with a virus)

Kirk flirts with a nurse

Sickbay is futuristic, but with ‘more recognizable’ elements like the lights over a medical bay

More than other actors Karl Urbanis doing a ‘little bit’ of a DeForest Kelley impression, but ‘it is great’

Chekov has trouble with his voice ID because he can’t pronounce ‘victor’

Chekov uses a very heavy accent and combined with his youth is ‘more different than the other actors compared to their originals’

Kirk’s warning to Pike is that he recognizes that the report of ‘lightning’ is related to the loss of USS Kelvin and the Romulans, Spock is forced to admit that Kirk’s ‘logic is sound’ after it is checked out

Uhura is told to man communications because she alone speaks ‘all three dialects of Romulan’

When ship arrives at attack site the debris includes a burning saucer section and looks like all Starfleet ships

Kirk meets Scotty and elder Spock

Kirk and Spock appear to be on the ‘frozen planet’

Pegg’s Scotty accent is ‘very good,’ and characters is definitely to be much of the comic relief

Scotty explains that his experimental beaming worked on fruit but he said "didn’t turn out so well for Admiral Archer’s beagle"

Spock giving Scotty his own equation from the future appears an homage to transparent aluminum scene in STIV

Spock looks much older than last seen in TNG, including white hair

Nimoy appears to be having a ‘lot of fun’ with the character

Romulan drilling rig

Nero’s ship is different than any TOS or TNG era Romulan ship

Mostly dark brown and somewhat very ‘metallic’ and ‘sharp’ with lots of pieces and chains hanging off of it

The ‘drilling rig’ is based on a chain hung down into atmosphere which fires a beam (in this case into the planet Vulcan)

Romulans themselves are much more aggressive than those appearing in TOS and TNG

Pike leaves Spock in command and flies shuttle Kirk, Sulu and Olsen down to ‘dive’ onto rig (transporters are being disrupted by beam),

Olsen character is classic ‘red shirt’ all gung on on the way down in shuttle, but quickly dispatched once they ‘dive’ onto the drilling rig

Sulu talks about ‘fencing’ with Kirk in shuttle and he loses phaser in fight scene and has to use his sword with ‘unfolds from the handle’ to fight Romulan with an axe

Kirk and Sulu are too late and so Spock leaves Chekov in command so he can save some prominent Vulcans (including his parents), Chekov beams Kirk and Sulu back, Pike was not seen returning

It is possible that this fourth scene takes place before the Kirk meets Scotty scene

Nobody seems to comment about what the exterior of the Enterprise looks like. I get the impression that it wasn’t seen in the clips, but nobody flat out says that in the reviews. I’m hoping the Enterprise looks a lot like the TOS model, although I’m sure it will be souped up a bit.

Now, that I’ve read all the spoilers… I kind of wish that I hadn’t. Still, based on these clips I think that this film is going to be totally awesome. A huge departure from the assumed backstory that we’ve created, but I’m not really upset about that.
I’ve no doubt that they wailing and gnashing of teeth from the canon-ites will begin shortly. Should be equally entertaining…

Kirk not even in the Academy while Uhura is already a commissioned officer? For that matter, Uhura and Chekov serving under Pike? And when was Kirk ever described as a troublemaker at the Academy? Everything we’ve been told says just the opposite (“stack of books with legs”, “grim”).

I find it hard to believe these clowns have ever even SEEN Star Trek, let alone are avid fans. A ten year old knows the backstory better than these guys.

The thing about canon is that as Trek fans we’re used to it being violated. It’s irritating, but we live with it. But with so much talent, money and time being thrown at this movie, you kind of expect the timeline (who did what when) canon stuff to be spot on.

Um… you *do* know this is a Star Trek time travel story, right? And that events, as events in all Star Trek time travel stories do, become changed, right? And that almost certainly the film will end, as all Star Trek time travel stories do, with the timeline as we know it being restored, right?

“She orders a round, including a fire tea, Budweiser classics and some Cardassian sunrises.” (to find out who “she” is, read the damn spoiler. Nyaaaaah.)

First, hasn’t it been pretty much established that Kirk’s a Michelob man? (STIV) — Violation of canon right there! Sacrelige! My childhood’s been r***d! They changed it, now it sucks! Damn JJ Abrams! Grrrrrrr! :P :D ;)

Second (and actually seriously): I’d thought that first contact with the Cardassians wasn’t till after the TOS timeframe. Though it’s a great namedrop nonetheless.

Oh, and her quip? Ouch. I never thought I’d hear somethng like that in Trek, particularly from HER…

I wish people would stop dictating their personal canon as gospel, decrying what JJ and co are doing. Get over yourselves, you don’t have to watch this film if it doesnt fit into your warped little world.

Read and assimilated…
These scenes sound awesome beyond belief. I really cannot wait for this movie. It really sounds like the kind of movie that will leave behind the Geek stereotype that seems to surround star trek these days. And all this without really destroying any of the cannon built up over the decades!
Abrahms, if this movie is as good as it seems, you will be a God among men!

I hear what you’re saying, I just think it might be best to have a look at the whole thing before condemning it.

I agree that Kirk’s backstory is being altered considerably and that there’s a Top Gun “Maverick” thing going on(including the daddy issues), but if it’s written well they might be able to pull it off.

I think a lot of fans take the TOS timeline WAY too seriously. I’ve been a TOS fan forever, but I couldn’t care less when Checkov joined the Enterprise. Or when everyone first saw the Romulans.

I just want to see the Enterprise crew going on exciting adventures, exploring the unknown, and getting in fights with the bad guys dammit.

I mean, you think fans back in 1966 really gave a crap about the timeline? They just wanted to watch a fun adventure show. It’s too bad today’s fans can’t be the same way. Now all they seem to care about is the stupid “continuity”.

Actually, this does have some premise. The Titanic was built in Dublin, but it said ‘Liverpool’ on the stern, ‘cos that’s where it was commissioned. Enterprise could have been built in Iowa and commissioned in San Fransisco.

Uhura and Chekov serving under Pike?! NOOOO!

Actually, this has some premise as well. What is the length of time between ‘The Cage’ and the Enterprise’s launch? It is feasible that Uhura and Chekov were reassigned and then returned to the Enterprise at Kirk’s behest when he was given command.

Kirk sounding like a rebel at the Academy?! NOOOO!

What, not canon? You don’t think it fits in with the character he later becomes perfectly? The Captain who disobeys orders and does what he thinks best? The Captain who continually flouted time-travel rules? Kirk’s a maverick, plain and simple. This fits with the character, which is more important than fitting with a couple of lines of dialogue.

LOL! Redshirt! Wonder if he has the Grim Reaper walking behind him!

Ah, canon. My old favourite chestnut. But remember – it’s like history, it’s open to interpretation.

Saw the footage this morning – the film looks incredible. Some amazing action including Sulu in a sword fight with some Romulan bad guy. The scenes we saw had a frentic pace, a real urgence about them. We’re in for a real treat with this movie

Kirk promoted to first officer after just graduating from the academy? I THINK IT’S SET A WHILE LATER – I’M NOT SURE, JJ MENTIONED POSSIBLY SET ‘YEARS’ AFTER THE IOWA SCENES. NOT 100% SURE ABOUT THIS THOUGH

and Nimoy’s Spock has come back in time from Post Star Trek VI. NOT Nemesis.

“I find it hard to believe these clowns have ever even SEEN Star Trek, let alone are avid fans. A ten year old knows the backstory better than these guys.”

oh, yeah, THAT makes a whole lot of sense.

a couple of things out of place or non-canon and people make statements like this. blows my mind.

the people who put this movie together have a better understanding of Trek than the a-holes who drove it into the ground sine Next Generation, IMO. they’ve already demonstrated this, movie sight-unseen.

I don’t know, Abrams version of a young Kirk certainly sounds truer to the Kirk of TOS than “Stack of books with legs”. That NEVER sounded right to me. Canon or no.

I mean, the guy cheated on the Kobiyashi Maru, and he tried to seduce every alien woman he met on TOS! He may have grown and matured enough to become a Starship captain, but he clearly used to be a bit of a jock and a rebel as a kid.

These threads have a tendency not to end well at all. I think I’m going to stay out of this one.

Except for the following:
————————————————-
I’m a bit nervous, but cautiously optimistic.

I came in to the Trek Franchise with Voyager, back when I was only 6, so I have somewhat a unique perspective. I personally liked it. Most people did not. That’s because it was not made for hardcore TOS fans. It was meant for another generation. I.E. Me.

If Spock succeeds in his mission, wouldn’t the logical thing to do be a preemptive attack on young Nero to reset the timeline? Once one accepts the feasibility of time travel, and we all have, then no attack or timeline change is permanent.

Relax kids. April and Stanky’s baboon asses are getting all pink and swollen for no good reason.

All this stuff sounds great. it’s pretty clear that the characterizations of young Kirk are influenced by Diane Carey’s BEST DESTINY. If anyone on this board really thinks that ‘books’ as we know them will be stacked in front of any Starfleet cadet in 200 years, or that a “grim” young Kirk will make an exciting commercial movie, they’re on crack.

One of the things that has enabled Star Trek to last as long as it has, and spawned as many different versions as it has, is that’s had a fairly consistent history and backstory (no, it’s not perfect, but compared to a lot of other shows, it’s almost a court transcript).

This films attempts to throw all that out.

Why give a rip about when Chekov joined the crew or when Kirk went to the Academy?

Well, if Star Trek doesn’t give a rip, why should any of us give a rip about Star Trek?

It’s pretty damn difficult to be a self-respecting fan of a show, or franchise, that doesn’t even take its own history seriously.

That can’t be the same Archer (would have to look at the In A Mirror, Darkly Archer biography to find his dates, but I am pretty sure he was no longer alive by the time of TOS) – although perhaps being a beagle owner runs in the family!

Everyone’s crying about canon, are their any specific issues being broken? Maybe I’m not the TOS geek I thought I was but I’m not spotting any major issues. What’s the deal with you all? Please, be SPECIFIC, and explain the violations.

What is the evidence that Spock goes back in time between Star Trek VI and the TNG era? Most all who have seen the footage say that Spock looks older with white hair … like Sarek in TNG

JJ said it was after Star TreK VI.
Nimoy looks older, his hair is dark but with some grey/silver in there.
Nimoy doesn’t appear in the trailer though (not that i can remember)
Don’t know what Sarek looked like in TNG, sorry.

Hey MARC, you mention that older Spock is from Post-Star Trek VI but not Post-Nemesis? Can you explain more than that, and how do you know that for sure? If that is true, why does Spock have “white hair” according to the report? Shouldn’t he just have his dark hair still? Thanks, and sorry for all the questions but as you can tell, the appearance of older Spock will be my favorite part of the film!

One of the things I really hated about the Star Wars prequels was how the characters came together. It looks like we have that going here. They come together “too conveniently .” It’s like they write down all the characters they plan to use and mix them around making sure we have one in each scene—whether it makes sense or not.

Of course, all that may be fine and dandy for an audience less familiar with the series.

1. I would’ve liked Robert April as the first captain of the Enterprise as established by TAS. But that’s not really canon so I can deal with it.

2. I don’t like that Kirk and Sulu are seeing Romulans as “Balance of Terror” was the first time anyone has ever seen a Romulan. However, the creative team said repeatedly that they viewed this episode and it served as an inspiration, so clearly this is intentional and not an oversight. This solidifies the notion that Nero has screwed up the timeline.

3. I really hope that was an error in saying the Enterprise was constructed in Iowa. I mean, c’mon. I don’t buy this one though, because if you look at the teaser trailer carefully there is a city skyline in the background.

4. I do not like the fact that Kirk goes straight from being a cadet to running around on the Enterprise. What happened to the Farragut? Serving under Captain Garrovick? Again, this is probably due to Nero’s interference, and I’ll just have to deal.

5. However, I’m greatly encouraged that the majority of these websites seemed to be enthused about the scenes and how the actors played the roles. Ultimately, as long this movie tells a good story, canon can be damned. However it’s a tough pill to swallow when you’ve grown up on 40+ years worth of established canon (I’m 23, but have seen all of Trek).

These descriptions sound very exciting, and I’m looking forward to seeing Trek born again. I’m tired of all the “they’re changing everything” whining and crying. If the ridiculous adherence to previous canon is all you care about, watch TOS and the TOS-based movies on DVD to your heart’s content.

And enough with the “it’s a time travel story, so all will be put back as we know it by the end” theories. If you honestly believe that, you’re deluding yourself. This is NEW Trek, based on the original series, keeping what the filmmakers thought were the best aspects of those concepts to tell a new story. They’re making a new history, a new “canon,” if you will. That is just the way it is going to be.

For me, I want to see a ripping good adventure story. I want to see concepts I’ve never even imagined could be done in Trek. I want to be amazed by what I’m seeing and hearing. I want to see Trek pushed to its dynamic limits. I no longer care about canon. I just want to see a good Star Trek movie.

And, no…the two are NOT inextricably bound together. I love the fact that these characters have had histories we believed we knew so well. It made them feel that much more real to us. But if Trek has to shed that aspect in order to become something new, I’m willing to accept it, as long as I’m told a good story.

If you can’t accept that just about everything you thought you knew about TOS Trek is about to change, then save your money and stay home. There are plenty of previous canon TV shows, movies, books, etc. to keep you satisfied. I’ll be in the theaters in May 2009 to see if this new direction works for me.

It’s all fittable into canon… because Nero’s changed the timeline. What we can do for *fun* (as we’ve been doing since 1966) is take the inconsistencies and enjoy working them out.

In this case, it’s finding the parallel event from the ur-Star Trek timeline to the neo- (or nero-)Star Trek timeline.

Chekov’s age yes is in the early 2nd season ep WMFA? set at 22 (perhaps just before he’s 23). If he went to SFA at 16, and he’s a 3-yr wonder, he’s an Ensign on the Enterprise at 19, 4 years before WMFA? That works out okay.

ur-Kirk we know went to Starfleet young. But here, he’s been fatherless a long while, and became quite a rebel. This is neo-Kirk. Instead of going to the academy at 17, he’s waited until age 24. This means he never was an instructor, hence no Gary Mitchell. Instead of Gary being his friend, perhaps Gary gets assigned to the Enterprise. This is going to be messy for sure! I’ll be interested to see how we know ur-Spock travels back in time and knows that the timeline has been changed.

Thank God, at least McCoy seems to be EXACTLY right… and Scotty… and even Sulu sounds fine.

Then again, knowing JJ… a lot of this footage could be total B.S. It’s just like JJ to have created a whole “fake” story… Just to get everyone riled up. But then again, it would be expensive, so I guess this is all “fo real”.

#32—-“This is taking the established history, putting it in a blender, producing a slimy gray ooze and calling it a banana smoothie.

This isn’t “honoring canon”, it’s mindless pandering by a couple of hacks who haven’t got a frelling clue what they’re doing.”

You seem to forget that the potential for “alternate timelines” in the ST Universe caused by interference from the future is itself ‘canon’, and has been since 1967.

As long as the changes in the backstories with which we are more familiar are caused by changes to the timeline, they are indeed “honoring canon”.

From what I read above, it appears as if the Romulan interference takes place very early on, setting a very different chain of events in motion.

The Romulan incursion and their “appearance” in “Balance Of Terror” may be a bit less surprising this time around, and some of the background information we learn in “WNMHGB”, “Obsession”, “The Conscience Of The King”, and “Court-Martial” may turn out a bit different. However, if the different timeline is a result of Romulan interference, it does not violate ‘canon’. Acknowledging the potential for alternate timelines is in keeping with ‘canon’.

Furthermore, we do not even know if the events we see depicted in this movie will be permanent, or an alternate timeline that is changed again before the story’s end.

Yeah, Nimoy today looks considerably older than he did even in TUC (it’s been 17 years, after all). I’d have a hard time buying that this takes place only after that movie. Plus I think Abrams already said elder Spock comes from the TNG era.

If this movie is about youth, action and sex in space, rather than the wonder of space travel with “friends”, I can see myself totally letting a new generation have this movie. I’ll stay home and protect my memories.

So, the Enterprise is a mash-up between TOS ship and the re-fit? Cool. I so want this film to be great but I have nagging doubts. I’m trying to be open-minded and non-judgmental, but have been watching TOS and I’m worried about what will be done to the Star Trek I know and love…

Okay, I’ve followed the links and read all the detailed descriptions of the scenes. Swell. They’ve managed to work in every possible Trek cliche under the sun while leaving out the one thing that may have made Kirk the person he is: Tarsus IV. I’m usually not hung up about Trek canon. Sulu being apparently older than Kirk doesn’t bother me, the ship being built on Earth doesn’t bother me, nor do any of the other relatively minor things. If something needs to be changed to add depth to a character, then fine. Change it. But this?

As my husband just said: “Sounds to me like they’re just going to go with the daredevil, playboy, rule-breaking rebellious Kirk and not balance any of it with the other facets of the character. Screw that… That would be like portraying Bruce Wayne as a shallow guy who just gets weird thrills out of dressing up like a bat and clobbering criminals, while leaving out the death of his parents.”

Exactly. We wanted to be excited about this film. I wanted to take our ten-year-old daughter and get her excited about Trek the same way my older siblings got me excited. But if this is going to be one long, ridiculous cliche, I guess I’ll pass. We all love “Galaxy Quest,” primarily because while it cracks jokes about the fans’ desperate clinging to canon, it also respects the fans’ devotion. Despite his protestations to the contrary, it sounds to me like Abrams and Co. have made a shallow, more overtly snarky “Galaxy Quest II,” now with 100% more Leonard Nimoy. How sad.

Hmmm.
Exactly what’s the point of a 20 minute preview? I mean — 20 minutes is certainly more than a taste. Thanks, JJ. Thanks a s#$%load. PLEASE don’t talk about security ever again. Some of us would like a few surprises for our 10 bucks.

I doubt I’ll be able to avoid learning more about the movie than I want to know before I see it — not with 6 months still to go.

Sorry to be snotty, but after such a long drought, now we’re getting too much without actually gettting the pay-off of a great film… at least not yet.

Has it occurred to anyone that Kirk may have met Pike much earlier than he let on in “The Menagerie” (i.e., maybe it was a SECRET because of the circumstances).

If you will recall, at the end of Menagerie, Kirk addresses Pike by his first name, and sounds as though he is talkiing to a friend. Certainly not like someone he only met once and briefly.

At any rate, The Menagerie royally screwed canon anyway. The Commodore states that Pike is about the same age as Kirk, which totally destroys the notion that Kirk is the youngest ship captain ever. If Pike is about the same age as Kirk at the time of that episode, he must have been in his 20s when he commanded the Enterprise.

Why worry so much about adhering to “canon” when the canon itself is horrendously inconsistent and full of holes and has been from the VERY beginning?

They never promised that this film would adhere 100% to throwaway lines spoken once in a random episode, or fanon whipped up by people with too much time on their hands. This is a reboot, but given the insanity portrayed by trek fans I can totally understand why they don’t just come out and say it. Why don’t you log off this site, put your TOS VHS on and just enjoy the 40 year old episodes you so treasure?

#37, #65: Its not “personal” canon. it’s canon. Everyone else is in accord. you don’t have to be on board, but it shows how JJ and co don’t give a crap about what is ON THE SHOWS and IN THE MOVIES.
#51. Intelligently and wisely spoken.

Why not just make everything up? get rid of some characters (Nurse chapel, janice rand). change stuff (never saw romulans to a movie all abotu seeign the romulans years before “balance of terror”. I hope JJ redoes star wars after this. then godfather. then Casablanca. He can remake/reboot/rewrite everything! heck, he can even kill off some of the star trek characters if he wants, who cares about what was in the tv shows and movies, lets just keep numbers 37 and 65 happy!!

Maybe, maybe we can even have star wars meets star trek! that’s QUITE PLAUSIBLE, beam down to the LOST island, beam up a few HEROS and just cross all time lines. after all, at the end, we can just say “TIME TRAVEL”.
(JJ CAN REWRITE AND CHANGE EVERYTHING IN CANON HE WANTS BUT WE CAN’T FIND A WAY TO BRING BACK KIRK or HAVE THAT NEVER REALLY HAPPEN SINCE IT HAPPENED IN THE NEXUS?)

During the beaming sequences, what did the beam look like? What did it sound like? Was it closer to TOS than the films or the other series’? IT LOOKED NEW AND COOL – More squigilly if that makes any sense. Louder also.

What did the phasers look like? Any scene with a communicator? Were these shown at all? They had some guns, not phasers as such

And finally, you say that the E looks like it did in TOS and the first few films – – so they didn’t alter it in any way that you could see? If so, that is just SHOCKING to me! I ONLY SAW BRIEF GLIMPSES – DON’T HOLD ME TO THAT, IT LOOKED COOL AND MORE SFX WITHIN IT, BUT IT’S NOT BEEN RE-VAMPED AS SUCH. YOU’LL SEE A SHOT OF IT BEING BUILT IN THE NEW TRAILER

The info sounds great! I strongly doubt they’ll completely wipe the timeline of this film at the end. The last thing you’d do is spend two hours setting up a cast and their universe to launch a ‘reinvigorated’ franchise, only to erase it all at the end!

#83
..or that a “grim” young Kirk will make an exciting commercial movie, they’re on crack.

I think your estimation is right, but I for one always liked the idea of a “grim” young Kirk, and I still think that sticking to the perception and the image people have of their heroes is one of the cornerstones of a successful brand. Just messing up with established traits in order to supply a want certainly would sell, but it would also thin down the soup and it wouldn’t be ST I’d like to watch.

Pfft, what kind of revisionist history is that? Rodenberry’s (god bless ‘em) heavy-handedness caused his role to be reduced on TOS, the films & TNG. TNG crawled it’s way out of a long, dark tunnel once Gene took a back seat to new writers and Rick Berman (and let me tell you, I’m loathe to give RB that credit after what he did to later Treks, but there was a time where he clearly ‘got it’). I love Roddenberry for what he created, but what made Trek great was his knack for finding excellent collaborators (Gene Coon, Bob Justman, Harve Bennett, Rick Berman).

The uproar from a few of you over supposed canon inconsistencies, based on four scenes taken out of context and probably not even shown in the same order as they appear in the film is pathetic. I think a lot of you *want* this film to be awful. It all sounds fantastic to me, and I’m looking forward to it. It also strikes me that it’s TNG fans who mostly have the canon craziness, and TNG has been pretty offensive to canon as well. Relax people. Give the film a chance.

If the timeline is altered, im not really bothered about obvious discrepencies in canon.

Two things matter to me about this movie:
a) No reset button ending. Its a Berman/Braga thing to show you a great adventure then press the big reset button at the end that no one remembers. I consider that cheating the audience.

b) The events of this movie change history in such a way, Kirk never dies on Veridian 3. It’s tough enough already going back watching a young Kirk knowing what happens to him in later life.

Dude, be nice. Star Trek has lasted as long as it has because of passionate fans. A lot of posters here, myself included, are understandably cautious about the new film. A lot of people are understandably optimistic. But it doesn’t help any of us for you or anyone else to say if you don’t agree with my views you should pack up and go home.

Look, the Canon that we’ve accumulated in 40+ years of Trek, the snippets of detail from Kirk’s life, Spock’s service with Pike, perhaps even the Farragut, all created the milquetoast future of the UFP that leads to Nero to travel back in time.

With due respect to the Right Wing Canonistas on this site, the timeline now loops backward, at least to Kirk’s birth and George’s death, before moving forward again. Cry yourselves out, take a nap, and then accept that JJ&KO were a little truthy about this not being a reboot. It’s pretty clear that this move at least is a reboot with a new operating system. Whether Spock does in fact travel in time to stop Nero before Nero sets out to kill George and destroy Vulcan, who knows?

But to state that this movie doesn’t respect canon is silly. If Kirk hadn’t seen genocide on Tarsus IV, been a bookworm, served aboard the Farragut, etc., Nero wouldn’t have set out to reset the timeline.

Also, the notion that the UFP and RSA were at war, but no one ever saw the face of a Romulan is plain stupid. Destroy one ship and there will frozen Romulans floating in space. Given the sensitive Human-Vulcan politics of the nascent UFP depicted in ENT, that Starfleet would keep their pointed ears Top Secret is most logical.

The GOOD WILL HUNTING spin on Kirk, being an Iowa townie-genius, is kinda cool.

#149 Dalek, can you clarify a little bit what you mean by
“The events of this movie change history in such a way, Kirk never dies on Veridian 3. It’s tough enough already going back watching a young Kirk knowing what happens to him in later life.”

Y’know, maybe they should just go all the way and turn Kirk’s brother Sam into his sister Samantha and really up the sexiness. And maybe have a little girl-girl action going on between Uhura and Rand, that’ll bring in the little mouthbreathers.

And how much ya wanna bet that the Enterprise has a couple hundred of those pop-up turrets like the Kelvin?

Like I said in my prior posts regarding “Doomed Pike” — in this alternate timeline, he will meet a fate other than being blasted by delta rays on a Class J Starship — this trailer alone should tell us that canon has been violated in MORE WAYS that one …
1-Sulu, Uhura, Chekov under Pike?
2-No Number 1
3-No Dr. Boyce
4-No Tango?????
REBOOT, REBOOT, REBOOT, REBOOT, REBOOT. And thats okay. Just make it a GREAT REBOOT!!!!

Wow — I’ve only had time to read the description at Empire so far, but from what I can see EVERYTHING that is described is completely true to character — if not cannon — and already sounds like it could be some of the best Trek that has ever been (IMO).

In that particular write up, with the lines that are either transcribed or paraphrased, you can really see how the story is coming out of the essence of the each character… I especially liked the idea of the challenge issued by Pike to Kirk, and his response to it. What a great addition to the story!

#115—-The possibility and existence of alternate timelines in the Star Trek Universe is itself ‘canon’ (and has been since 1967), therefore any changes to the backstories with which we are familiar (assuming they are a result of an altered timeline) cannot be considered violations of ‘canon’.

We know certain things took place in the characters’ backstories from episodes like “WNMHGB”, “Obsession”, “The Conscience Of The King”, and “Court-Martial”.

Some of these events may not unfold as they did before due to Romulan interference.

It appears that things which may be perceived as canon violations on the surface will be canonically explained, as promised to us by Bob Orci.

I see no problem with that. And the early reviews of the footage are terrific. Even the guy who said he went into it wanting to write something terrible about it because it was Star Trek had to give it thumbs up.

When you can get 400 reporters to create thunderous applause after 20 minutes of footage, it is hard to imagine that this isn’t a winner.

Oh boy, this is either going to be utterly awesome or suck beyond comprehension. There will be no middle ground.

It’s amazing that so many Trek fans have this vile reaction when canon is mentioned. Isn’t that what has made Trek such a rich universe over all these years? The extensive historical timeline that’s been maintained over DECADES? If it’s so unimportant, why even bother getting Nimoy??
If JJ is “honoring canon,” I’m anxious to see to what degree, because it seems to be much less than many anticipated. (Case in point- the “iBridge.”)

#165—The scriptwriters have handed JJ Abrams a huge canon loophole, since the possibility and existence of alternate timelines as a result of interference from the future has itself been canon for over 4 decades.

Just about anything and everything can been explained away by Romulan interference with the timeline 4 days before Kirk was even born.

The important thing to me is the reaction everyone who saw the footage apparently had. It seems to be universal praise. That’s good, IMO.

#165- I believe that JJ is doing a lot more than “honing canon”. I mean we have seen more than enough snippets of evidence to at least suspect that. This 20 minute footage certainly confirms that (as well as the EW Article). “Casino Royale” was a SMASHING success — yet it was also the MOST different of Bond films. I really believe that this will at least be the MOST different of ST TOS/Films period. AND CLEARLY we are looking at a REVAMPED universe/timeline — to think that opposite would be naive on our parts. #165 also totally agree with your statement:

“Oh boy, this is either going to be utterly awesome or suck beyond comprehension. There will be no middle ground”
This movie wil either AWSOME or AWFUL!!!!!

Boy, some fans just won’t be happy. All of the people who reviewed the 20 minutes shown spoke GLOWINGLY about what they saw. I say “Excellent!” I’ve got an engagement May 8th in the evening, but I will try to make it earlier in the day, or on Saturday if I have to. Live long and prosper!

I believe that according to the Defiant’s biography from “In a Mirror, Darkly,” Archer dies in 2245, shortly after presiding over the commissioning of the NCC-1701. He was 133, so Scotty’s statement is definitely within canon; for all we know, Archer could have been cloning Porthos all those years – he certainly was attached to him enough!

In fact, the film DOESN’T have to explain anything about the time line… Actually, I would prefer if it didn’t address the inconsistencies at all and left it up to us to figure it out. If it’s a good story, I can look at the film and say, “Okay, this jerk Nero went back in time to kill Kirk around the time of his birth and failed. What he did do was to mess up history, resulting in the events of this movie.” No April, no crew of the Enterprise before Kirk & Co.

No problem.

Look at what this does for JJ & Co. The slate is much cleaner than before. Also, it looks like this film may skim over Kirk’s time at the academy (it would seem to take a few years to graduate), which could be revisited at a later date (with plenty of time for Carol Marcus, Gary Mitchell, etc.).

Or not.

I’ll judge this movie when it comes out (on opening night, of course)…so far though, it looks promising.

Has anyone on this site ever kissed a girl? Get out of your mother’s basement and live life. The movie sounds fun.

Keep up the great work J.J. I appreciate you breathing some fresh air into a close to dead franchise. I’ve been to every Star Trek movie in the theatre and the last couple just seemed like an episode of TNG.

Joker didn’t look like the Joker from the Superfriends cartoon and I thought he really made the last Batman Movie a lot of fun.

I think Star Trek is in excellent hands. Thanks for taking on this project.

UK press is decidedly nasty. Like ‘crabs in a bucket,’ they pull anyone down who nearly succeeds in making it out. So the fact that these reviews are roundly great is extraordinary. Koenig’s performance was always craptastic, so the new kid, a serious actor by any standards, has a unique balancing act.

169. Marc – November 11, 2008

Re-Invigoration comes from a cup of coffee or a Chinese foot massage. This is a reboot, straight up. The genius [for Hollywood, not science fiction as a whole] is that they’ve rebooted without trashing the past. James Bond has the benefit of implied succession–one 007 dies, a new one takes his #. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA rebooted with total disrespect to the original, and it worked out well. But this reboot seems like it’s been very reverential.

As for raped childhoods, my childhood was not as invested in the Space Fantasy Known As STAR WARS. It was always based on magic and myth, rather than science and a rigorous sense of history like STAR TREK.

165 – The continuity within the series went only as far as keeping basic things straight during the Original Series.

At first, it was the United Earth Space Probe Agency, then it was Starfleet.

At one point, Kirk was a serious bookworm, the next he was brawling with another Cadet at the Academy.

If the series had so many inconsistencies,then telling the tale from scratch might be the way to go.

I believe that this may be effectively a reboot, but with enough reverence to the Original Series and it’s characters to work.

If this DOES turn out to fit in with the Original Series canon, even if altered by Romulans interfering with things, then I’d be delighted.

This may not be the case, however, considering that the Enterprise is now being built in Iowa (though it was never actually established on screen that the Enterprise was built in San Francisco), and Kirk meets Pike in a bar (when he was promoted to “Fleet Captain” according to dialogue in The Menagerie, which may have occurred before he was a Cadet).

The year of the Enterprise being built was never established on screen, and it is possible that Robert April was on the Enterprise before Kirk’s Academy stint, then Chris Pike commanded her while Kirk was at the Academy as a Fleet Capatin, with Kirk taking over and meeting the crew over the course of the movie.

Also is the Enterprise being Built or substantially refitted and overhauled in Iowa?

You ask if we’ve gone insane. May I point out that you’re the one ranting about how this movie destroys Trek, based only on second-hand reports of a preview, which for all we know may have large portions of it end up on the cutting-room floor.

#Enterprise looks ‘just fine,’ shaped mostly like the TOS ship with TMP level of details (including torpedo launchers), except for the oversized nacelles#
How does the neck look like? Is as thin and weak as in TOS and TOS movies or is little thicker and more solid smilier to Enterprise C neck?

I’ve just perused the links, and I am laughing my ass off. Admiral Archer’s beagle and 47, plus what look like some great pieces of larger plot elements. Kirk relieving Spock as Captain of the Enterprise?

After reading these spoilers, here is what I see happening on May 9th 2009

The end credits roll to standing ovations
Audiences (TOS fans, TNG fans, and non-Trekkies) walk out of the theaters pumped
½ of them turn right back around and buy tickets to the next available show
Critical acclaim
Oscar buzz
Paramount instantly green lights two sequels
Being a Star Trek fan instantly becomes cool
Trekkies name JJ Abrams the new messiah
And…..

70 people go home, crawl into the fetal position, and cry themselves to sleep because Gary Mitchell was not in the movie

I can buy that Nero’s attack on the USS Kelvin 4 days before Kirk was to be born altered many events and delayed Kirk’s entry into SFA, but he still has to be 12 years older than Chekov. I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around how Chekov could be there even as late as the early 2260’s.

I suppose that, since Kirk’s rise through the ranks of Starfleet is quite different this time around, Pike could be in command of the Enterprise even later than he was in the previous timeline. Whereas Chekov first came aboard during Kirk’s command (sometime prior to the events of “Space Seed”) in the timeline we know, he may have come aboard while Pike is still in command this time around.

The other, easier explanation is that Chekov’s age in TOS is disregarded altogether.

It may be a little too convenient that Uhura, Sulu, Chekov, Scotty, and McCoy are aboard Pike’s Enterprise…but that is forgivable if this movie is as great as those reporters who gave those reviews seem to think it may be…at least in my opinion.

This just ruined every bit of excitement I had for this film. I understand updating the look of the tech, and I can see where they have created a new timeline. However, the creators have been telling me all along this falls in line with TOS and would show us how that series came to be. This is a REBOOT, regardless of whatever story element you have to make it “fit,” it’s a complete reboot. I wanted to see how the Enterprise crew came together. I wanted to see a young James T. Kirk, the “stack of books with legs” who joined the academy at 17 and had to learn to loosen up. I wanted to see how TOS came to be. This movie may be great, but it is not how TOS came to be. It is how TOS has been changed into something new.

I don’t think I need something new. I think TOS would work just fine. What a shame these professional writers weren’t able to come up with a story to please everyone. What a shame, like B&B in the first three season of Enterprise, they decided to make it easier on themselves and ignore more than 40 years of story.

I do hope the film is enjoyable, but I have a tough time now believing it will be “Star Trek.”

Earlier this year I mentioned on this site that I really hoped to see the new Trek give us a “sense of wonder” similar to TOS episodes like “The Cage.” Spock grabbing hold of the singing leaves on Talos IV (and then grinning), to me, is the perfect snapshot of this spirit and gives me chills to this day. You seemed to agree with this sentiment.

My question. With so many things going on in the film, my question is, will there be much focus on this element — the sense of wonder — the sense of discovery and the exploration of the unknown?

To me, this is much, much more important they assembled the Enterprise in Iowa or in orbit.

Thanks in advance and thank you for being someone I have put my faith in for this re-ignition: a true fan of the original series

OMG … you canon followers are just a pain in the ass! NO WHERE does is state taht uhura and Chekov weren’t serving under Pike. You saw ONE episode with Pike in command.. who is to know when they came aboard? The could have been cadets assigned to the Enterprise.. just because we didn’t see them on the bridge with Pike, doesn’t mean they weren’t there. How about this.. hmmm.. maybe WATCH the movie??

I really don’t see why this drifts into a canon-discussion again. Off the top of my head I can name a dozen canon violations, not only TOS vs. other Trek shows but also TOS vs. TOS. We’re not talking about altering the universe (or do we? :-) ), but for a 120-minute origin film for 7 characters plus a story to be told, there has to be compromises. But as long as it’s just trifles, I don’t give a shit. In the end, it’s neither that nor the big explosions and effects-driven scenes we’ll remember, but the quiet ones, the character moments. And we haven’t seen any of those so far.

@boborci (maybe): Do you think 10 or 20 years from now, people will still remember a scene of ST09 the way we do ‘KHAAAN’ or ‘The line must be drawn HERE’? Any ‘defining moments’ in your movie?

Anyway, I won’t judge this thing before it comes out, but I *will* once it does. For now, all I have is rave reviews all over the place, but I couldn’t care less. It’s me they have to convince to like it. But with the little we got they already convinced me and obviously many others to be there for the midnight screening, and that’s a really good start I guess.

And about the Spock post-VI or post-Nemesis era: Abrams probably said post-VI because he assumed people would be familiar with the TOS movies, but not so much with the TNG ones. Saying he’s from the time after TOS is easier than explaining some 15 years of backstory.

47 Klingon Warbirds, that’s a whole lot of dead Klingons, and enough of a hit to shift the balance of power for a generation. It seems like Nero’s strategy is much bigger than Kirk, the Enterprise or the UFP, and that some kind of reset button will be punched by the end of this movie.

What I’ve read so far makes me think I’m gonna like this film, and I grew up on TOS. I think the new writers and production team see so-called ‘canon’ as capturing the spirit and look/feel of the series, and having the major elements such as the Enterprise, the main characters – but they aren’t slavishly adhering to every detail. It’s pretty much a reboot, but I like what I’ve seen and read so far.

If you don’t like it, don’t go. Just because you spent 40 years reading make-believe history, doesn’t make it real.

The idea of alterations in the past causing the future to change is not a new invention to Trek. It has been done a lot.

Furthermore, if you really want to argue it, then McCoy going into the past and saving Judith Keeler did create the “true Trek future” – a future without Starfleet. Kirk and Spock changed the timeline back to the “timeline” they believed was correct, but who is to argue. They just got lucky that by allowing Keeler’s death, they got back to “their future” They got lucky, because maybe their actions while they were in the past could have created a new timeline.

Actually- I am being unfair in post 208. I don’t really think the writers took an easy way out, but I wish it was different. Like the later Star Wars films, Lucas didn’t do with them what I would do, but I do enjoy them in their own right, and perhaps I will enjoy this film as well. The spirit of wonder and the commentary on the Human Condition is what is important in Trek. I am however very disappointed the film is a reboot.

#208—-“What a shame these professional writers weren’t able to come up with a story to please everyone”

lmao!!!!!!!!

I have some news for you….

That has never happened in the history of writing….ever!!!!

“This is a REBOOT, regardless of whatever story element you have to make it “fit,” it’s a complete reboot.”

No, it’s not….and here’s why.

Everything that happened in the timeline you are familiar with lead Nero and his cohorts to do what they did to interfere with the past. The relevancy of the previous timeline is therefore inherent in the story.

Everything we know is part of the course of events that leads the story to this. Furthermore, the possibility of alternate timelines caused by interference from the future has been a vital part of ‘canon’ in the Star Trek Universe since episodes like “Tommorow Is Yesterday”, “City On The Edge Of Forever”, “Assignment: Earth”, etc.

Like it or not, ‘canon’ has a huge inherent loophole, and it is called the alternate timeline…

It is clear that “how the original crew got together” is not the same in this story as it was before, nor does it appear that it was intended to be.

Captain Robert April, TOS screwed with it’s own canon so much it’s unreal. Seems to me that adhereing as closely to canon as you would like would strangle the creativity of anyone trying to craft a story. Seems this movie isn’t for you though, but we’ll always have our Trek, so no harm can be done. This movie is a big gamble to attract new fans. If it fails, we’ll still have our Trek.

What I mean is these changes would fashion a timeline so different that Kirk’s future and death remains open, rather than being fixed by the original timeline in which he died in Generations. I asked Mr Orci if the films events led to this possibility or not and he said he didn’t know. He was either protecting spoilers for the film, or stating that it is open to interpretation now. He didn’t say no, which tells me that Kirk’s death isn’t necessarily a fixed point now.

It certainly sounds like the Romulan change to the timeline before Kirk’s birth will be the explanation for the “canon violations”. It’s also IMHO a great storytelling technique allowing us to see our favourite characters in new situations. We can compare the people they are now with what we knew before. What part of their personalities is genetic and what part is a result of experience? Fun stuff for us Trekkers.

I have been a TOS fan since the reruns in the early ’70’s. I could not be a bigger fan of the original series, yet I am am absolutely stoked to see JJ’s reboot!

The first movie I can remember watching while eating breakfast was TWOK, and the second was Balance of Terror. Reading these descriptions made me unbelieveably excited and thrilled to be a Trek fan. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing the film, and I sincerely hope the film is a success for you and your team.

God knows I love Trek, in almost all it’s incarnations, but …. it just hasn’t been clicking.
This sounds like “the change we need,” to quote from a certain president-elect.
I’m so ready for some optimism, for some change!

“…J.J. Abrams’ production designer had no respect for the original show or designs, and “thought the project was beneath him,” according to a member of the production. The new Enterprise looks somewhat like a cross between the ST:TOS and the ST:TMP ship, but the overall size and component proportions are absolutely awful. First, the ship is GIGANTIC. It’s not 1000 feet long, it’s more like 3000 feet — like the BSG or an Imperial Star Destroyer (which makes its construction on Earth by a bunch of 22nd-century hard hat-wearing welders even more stupid.) Second, the ship’s secondary hull is half the size it should be, while the cylindrical, whale-like engine nacelles are HUGE — again, way out of proportion to the rest of the ship. Once again, there’s a reason why Paramount hasn’t revealed the whole ship yet, because true-believer TOS fans are gonna hate it…”

Everything we know——ENT, TOS, the TOS movies, TNG, the TNG movies, DS9, VOY—-leads to the point where (sometime post-Nemesis) Nero and his villainous cohorts act in an effort to disrupt the past in their favor.

Nimoy’s Spock is bent upon the notion of picking up the pieces and setting as much of it ‘right’ as he can.

What we get— as fans— is an opportunity to enjoy stories involving the (once again) young and inspiring characters of the Original Series in new adventures for years to come.

That can’t be a bad thing.

I think Star Trek will indeed continue to “live long and prosper” when Bad Robot delivers this movie to us….I can’t wait.

I’m more excited now about a Star Trek movie than I have been since waiting in line as a child to see TWOK at the Grandview Cinema in Odessa, Tx, back in 1982.

“…J.J. Abrams’ production designer had no respect for the original show or designs, and “thought the project was beneath him,” according to a member of the production. The new Enterprise looks somewhat like a cross between the ST:TOS and the ST:TMP ship, but the overall size and component proportions are absolutely awful. First, the ship is GIGANTIC. It’s not 1000 feet long, it’s more like 3000 feet — like the BSG or an Imperial Star Destroyer (which makes its construction on Earth by a bunch of 22nd-century hard hat-wearing welders even more stupid.) Second, the ship’s secondary hull is half the size it should be, while the cylindrical, whale-like engine nacelles are HUGE — again, way out of proportion to the rest of the ship. Once again, there’s a reason why Paramount hasn’t revealed the whole ship yet, because true-believer TOS fans are gonna hate it…”

39. Captain Robert April –
“Y’know, it’s precisely this sort of Mongolian clusterphuque that got Roddenberry to come out of retirement and produce TNG, to keep Paramount from making an unholy mess of the whole thing.”

Somebody get this guy a tranquilizer, he’s about to go postal. Dude, just don’t go see it. Stay home. Rewatch “Way to Eden”, “And the Children Shall Lead”, “Spock’s Brain” and all those other wonderful canon moments you so zealously defend. Spew your venom elsewhere.

#41
I was reading the Phase II book by the Reeves-Stevens’ and there are some sketches in there of the Phase II Enterprise Bridge, which are also mostly white. it does look like this new Bridge has borrowed from that aesthetic.

#233—“Anybody who says this isn’t a full blown reboot is so far in denial, they’re running for Pharaoh. And don’t insult my intelligence by trying to argue that it isn’t.”

Forgive me for insulting your intelligence, but how can it be a “full blown reboot” when every event depicted in ENT, TOS, the TOS movies, TNG, the TNG movies, DS9, and VOY leads up to the point where Romulan villains in the post-Nemesis era decide to alter the past?

#27 – Captain April, I can only hope that you realize that this is fiction. Right? You do don’t you?

Why can’t you appreciate this on it’s own merit? It doesn’t have to fit perfectly into everything that has come before. And why do you canon-ites ignore the fact that there are endless contradictions of canon in the TOS series itself? Why are there contradictions? Because this IS FICTION!!

You say any 10 year old knows more, but you are wrong. The VAST MAJORITY of the film-going public, esepcially the ever important 15 to 30 crowed knows virtually nothing about Star Trek. Contrary to alot of Trekkies’ inflated ego driven beliefs, the VAST MAJORITY of the movie going publice thinks Star Trek is a has-been, joke of a franchise. Therefore they will not notice any proglem with Chekov or Uhura serving on Pike’s Enterprise, or any of the other unimportant details you obsess over.

Get a life. It’s a movie. And from the descriptions above, it sounds like a potential “Dark Knight” type of blockbuster.

#246—I don’t think they are “in trouble” just because you post nasty things about it before it is even released.

Judging by the initial reaction of the 400 reporters shown the 20 minutes of footage, I’d say there is a pretty good chance your opinion won’t represent the majority of moviegoers…It sounds like it was fairly impressive to them.

With everything that seems to take place in the new Trek film (ie; backstory origins, everyone meeting up, altered timeline plot, action, et all), I hope they did not omit this crucial, crucial element.

To provide subtitles for the thinking impaired: THIS IS MAKE-BELIEVE. CAPTAIN KIRK DOES NOT REALLY EXIST. WHAT JJ ABRAMS, BOB ORCI ET AL DO TO HIM IN THIS MOVIE IS NOT GOING TO MAKE THE EARTH SPIN OFF ITS AXIS OR PLUNGE US INTO A THERMONUCLEAR WAR. BREATHE. TAKE A PILL. DON’T PANIC. GET A LIFE.

When you start quoting guys at aicn you know it’s time to pack up and go home. Honestly, there are more “sources”, or people who know sources than there are poeple working in Hollywood. And all of them hate EVERYTHING that they are working on.

It’s a movie, and 90% of those going to see it won’t know any of that.

Do you think people liked “Dark Knight” and lined up by the thousands to see it because it was just like the 60’s TV show Batman?

Obviously you won’t like this film because you can’t get over constraints in story telling over 40 years of real time, but you know what? The millions of dollars that this film makes due to the droves of people seeing it like Transformers or Dark Knight will make you a very small minority that people will quickly forget about.

It’s just sad you won’t be able to enjoy the film with the rest of us for what it is – a good movie about characters we all enjoy watching.

Paging Mr. Coto. All I can say is… the sequel should be setup to “fix” a lot of the reasonable criticisms.

Certainly, I can see the Federation not willing to have so many new officers filling positions on the Enterprise under this Tom-Paris/Nick-Locarno-like J.T. Kirk.

Perhaps, Starfleet refuses to honor Pike’s brevet field promotions given to Spock for example, or Spock’s field promotion given to McCoy. So in the sequel, we see a “grim” “by the book” instructor from SFA, Gary Mitchell (Of course! His description of Kirk thus becomes a description of him instead!) assigned to be Kirk’s first officer. And we see Starfleet assign Dr. Piper as CMO, reassigning McCoy to SFHQ… and assigning Dr. Dehner, etc. Transferring Sulu to physics…

I checked the Jonathan Archer entry at Memory Alpha, and Sussman’s biographical entry indicating that Archer died after the commissioning of the NCC-1701 Enterprise (thus possibly being the Archer in the Scotty comment) is not necessarily canon as it was not shown on screen. Even if it could be considered canon, Archer had by that point retired as Federation President – hardly makes sense to go back into Starfleet after the pinnacle of his career, although perhaps he remained an honorary admiral to the end of his life. We may never know….

I’m not making any judgments until the movie comes out and I see it. Until then, there is no way to critique the movie.
All these conversations we are having about these scraps being tossed our way reminds me of a story I heard when I was a small kid. It was about some blind men touching a small section of an elephant and then trying to describe what the entire animal looked like. And to the best of my knowledge, they were all wrong.
Let’s watch the movie and THEN get critical.

I don’t know maybe JJ is smart letting us in on this a little at a time so the shock of all the changes they made, doesn’t send us screaming into the night crying foul. Maybe he’s trying to desensitize and prefare us a little at a time but what i feared all along about this movie seems to be coming true…This is not my Trek anymore and that makes me very sad. I knew when they said they were including the novels as “canon” (which had never beed done before) that we would be in for changes that i knew i woldn’t want to accept. I wanted to like this film but for me Kirk is key and this, so far, sounds far from the Kirk of TOS. I wish they had made this movie using new characters. I mean if they wanted to change so much of what we know about these existing characters and their history, why bother using them at all?

I was reading these four scene descriptions, trying to figure out how to make this all work in my head as part of Star Trek, as TPTB claimed it would be. Yeah, maybe this is all out of context, and maybe some of this is resolved later, but what I was reading sure seemed like pretty much of a mess to me.

For the first time since I started following this production, my hopes really sank. Based on reading this set of scenes–and allowing, again, that there’s almost certainly a lot of material we haven’t seen yet–but this doesn’t seem like Star Trek to me. This seems like a story about some folks with the same names as characters I care about, with a few ships and planets with the same names as ships and planets I care about, but otherwise there’s little resemblance to the fictional world I care about.

For the first time, it’s starting to feel like a total continuity-buster, and, yeah, a reboot of the worst kind (and, yes, a reboot with the cheap-ass excuse of an alternate timeline is a reboot, nonetheless, unless the alternity is resolved by the end of the story).

For the first time, I’m starting to feel like the oft-asserted claim that this movie is designed to be an origin story for the Star Trek that we know and love is in fact a lie.

Maybe I’m wrong. I really hope I’m wrong. But for the first time, I don’t feel good about this movie anymore.

If I’m not wrong, that’ll be a couple of C-notes I won’t be spending on movie tickets next spring.

#237 – If they’ve thrown out the Trekverse, it most assuredly is a bad thing.

Can someone, anyone, who’s in a position to know give me any hope that the conclusions I’m drawing are wrong, and that I should still have any reason to care about this movie (except maybe to hope that it goes away quickly and does as little damage as possible)? Please? I want to feel good about what’s going to come in May, and I’m having real trouble now. :(

Okay, y’know what? Screw Canon. This movie sounds awesome. As long as it doesn’t make a uber-error (like, I don’t know, replacing Warp Speed with Hyperspace or something like that), I’ll be fine. As long as the movie is good. Which it sounds like it will. And from what I’ve read, there seem to be very few things that DIRECTLY are going against Canon here, the rest merely goes against Fanon or could easily be explained away as Time Travel related or as results of personnel movements that were never acknowledged on screen but easily could have happened.

Although Porthos must’ve been like 90 when Scotty got to him, meaning Archer must really like Beagles.

Hail to Greenwood as Pike. He’s a great “That Guy” who can play an important character in a supporting role (See: Thirteen Days, where he is JFK and is Second-Billing).

245 zactly, AICN talkbacks are like getting sex advice from a 3rd grader.

The nacelles seem much thicker in diameter, so the proportions may be different. But I can’t see the small secondary hull thing being true, especially if the shuttles are longer and the ship’s carrying Drop Ships, too.

Definitely Fan-boy Nonsense with NO understanding of classic Trek and just SPITS all over it!!!
Screw you JJ and Writers for Killing Trek.
GO Kill LOST while your at it. That Pile of Epic Fail needs to DIE More!

Scotty, after the Enterprise D rematerializes him, designs a time travel ship. The old Spock, who is alive at the same time just because his Vulcan lifespan is so very long… meets up with Scotty in the future!! That’s got to be it! haha… awesome fun. awesome fun.

I read that same post too. In fact he made two of them where he somewhat changes what he says throughout both of them.

A couple of things make no sense. First, did Paramount go and have someone take a tape measure and see how long the Enterprise was?

He made the same sort of post in another Trek thread from the other thread on AICN. His first claim was that it was just “bigger than 1,000″ feet. Now he has a definitive measure of 3,000 feet? How do you confuse the two? HOW CAN YOU TELL?

But they are already revealing it! Again, some of the stuff he says makes LITTLE sense.

Second, most of the accounts just say that the nacelles are a little over sized (which most already knew from the teaser trailer.) Everything else appears to be proportionally correct from the reports (contradictory to what he said.)

As always, it’s been entertaining to read everyone’s reactions. Here’s mine: if I couldn’t wait before, now I REALLY can’t wait! Fortunately, I’m already slated to see Quantum of Solace this weekend. It’s odd to me that so many here have commented disdainfully about seeing it, or going just for the trailer. What’s not to like about a Bond movie? Oh, right, the blasted canon problem.

Canon. *rolls eyes* Canon is great, but if it doesn’t serve to help tell the story, then its only purpose is to prove how smart you are to other dorks. (I can say that, _I’m_ a dork.) As has been pointed out, Star Trek was remarkably consistent, but it was also frequently inconsistent, and when it “violated canon,” it did so to serve the story being told at the moment. Data’s cat, Spot, switched from male to female to serve a particular story. Kirk was alternately a bookworm or a fisticuffs loving maverick. (Can we use that word safely yet?) Checkov was the one on the planet, so he’s the one Khan remembered from Space Seed, even though he wasn’t in the episode. You can explain stuff away all you want, and that’s a lot of fun, but ultimately it’s just not the end of the world when a new writer and director want to tell a particular story and fudge what’s gone before.

You can certainly explain the events in the upcoming movie by claiming time travel and timeline alteration, and if that makes you feel better and ready to enjoy the show, I think that’s great. For me personally, it doesn’t matter as much that things might be different. I like to think of it as a different interpretation, a different way of telling a story about a crew consisting of people named Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Checkov, Uhura and Scotty aboard a spaceship called Enterprise. I’d be okay with it even if there was no time travel whatsoever in the movie to “explain” what we see in the context of the canon of all the other shows. (And as I’ve said before, it looks like JJ et al are being remarkably faithful to what most people know about Star Trek anyway.)

I’ve been to the conventions, I’ve got the TNG uniform (made custom before you could feakin’ buy them), as likely as not I can name the notable episode you describe, I’ve been to the Vegas Experience, I’ve met some of the TOS cast, got most of the Hallmark ornaments, and I know I’m not even remotely the Trekkiest Trekker out there… but I’m telling you it’s okay. You can give yourself permission to go to this movie in May and be entertained, and see, if not what was, (because established canon is too dear to you) then what might have been. An alternate version, if you will.

Some people like Tim Burton’s Batman, some people like the new one, and some people still even like Adam West. There’s room for everyone, IDIC and all that.

If you aren’t happy with this movie, avoid it and donate your $10.50 to Bill Shatner so he can add in some super SFX to the ending of Trek V. That way you will be happy and can rejoice in having your old, but stinky Trek V.

#279- Probably not. Most of the arguments taking place have little to do with the various conjectures that Mike and Denise came up with, but instead are dealing with what was previously established on film.

remember when they rebooted dukes of hazzard and suddenly there was all this swearing and sexuality that was never a part of the original? I really really really hope that the new star trek avoids the same thing.

i’ve been totally onboard and open to this movie but as of today, i’m on yellow alert.

yo orcster, have you been hanging out at this site for months now out of a sense of guilt? have you betrayed us? although i trust in you, given all the new “sh*t”, (as dude lebowski would advise us) i’m getting the uneasy feeling about trust in sir JJ.

maybe its one too many “this one’s not for the fans” or “i never was a fan” comments. maybe captain robert april is right. god, i hope not. but why is uhura tending bar in iowa and accusing james t. kirk of beastiality?

that word doesnt belong in the star trek i know. oh you can imply it, etc. but this is one instance where i think that a network’s standards dept actually helped. Yo, please don’t be R-rating my childhood, yo. Lets please keep that innocence and good taste atleast?

have you betrayed us, orcster? were there battles with sir jj where he just didnt give a care about the canon that you were trying to preserve, as a fan? i think awhile back you said something along the lines of the bottom line is that either we buy your version or we dont. you said this when addressing specific particulars and plot points as some sort of blanket… as i might see it now… apology?

dude… please post more than a one-liner that says nothing.

these british naval dudes have seen about 1/3 of the movie and are spilling all kinds of beans about it. is this the way you wanted it to all go down? what is UP with kevin smith and garth brooks and every father’s daughter’s a virgin seeing this thing way – and a mean WAY – before it comes out? and oh sure, i get to read first person accounts on the interwebs. but still. where’s my chance to see the movie now?

and what is up with sir jj saying that spock is post -nemesis, now it’s post st6? has sir jj even seen these movies to know what he is answering?

you can imagine me, as quinto, as nimoy, as spock – standing in the transporter bay as a landing party prepares to beam down to talos 4, yet only 2 chicks from the party actually materialize and I cry out in my most contained vulcan non-emo:

Nope! Won’t read this report!! Won’t ruin my total movie experience!!! Only children need to peek in the closet on Xmas eve!!! I don’t care who’s seen it nor what they think!! I am capable of individual thought and freedom.

Nimoy has faith, Pegg has faith, the press at the screening has faith, Kevin Smith has faith…..Everyone so far who has seen bits and pieces really digs this movie….but it is not your fathers Trek….it is something more….Please have faith that this will be a great movie…tell your friends about it….get excited….Hope for the future is what ST is about….IDIC….Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations…..I have always joked (well half heartedly) that Trek is my religion…..people coming together for their similarities and embracing our differences….to me that is what Gene was talking about….but when I read the comments on here, I feel like I accidentally logged on to a right wing, narrow minded evangelical church website proclaiming the end is near, Obama is the anti-christ, etc…etc…..Star Trek is about hope and if things don’t evolve or at least adapt, they tend to die off…..Thank you J.J. and crew for taking a chance…..second star to the left and straight on till morning….(yes I substituted left for “right” with political undertones…lol)

#271: Yeah, I guess it’s not an origin story of the Trek we know but an origin story for the new Star Trek blockbuster movie series that is going to be made IF this movie is a success.

Just think of TOS as a comic book series being reimagined by JJ & Company and adapted for the big screen. That’s what I’ve been guessing from day one and NOBODY seemed to believe me anywhere on the internet. This one’s a plain reboot, reimagining, reinterpretation of the original making use of some recognizable icons, nothing more, nothing less.

You’re not going to watch 2007’s Transformers movie and then start watching the 80s cartoon, are you? No, you are expecting the blockbuster sequel! You can’t expect Paramount to finance a new “pilot movie” for a 43 year old low-budget cult show! It’s an all new take, nothing more, NOTHING LESS!

I’m looking forward to it for what it is because that’s definitely more exciting than the second backdoor pilot of that lost Phase II series or whatever fanwank some of us were expecting. Yeah, it IS a sad day because it’s defintely clear the OLD TREK is NOT coming back the way some of us wanted to believe. But then, it is also a HAPPY DAY because Trek will be brought to a new generation that had no chance of entering the complex 700 episodes and 10 movie-spanning megaverse that came before…

You know, I am one who doesn’t really want what I remember changed, so I guess you could call me a canon nut as well. However, I am willing to give this movie a chance and enjoy it for what it is, another story in the Star Trek Universe. It took me four seasons before I would even admit that I WATCHED TNG. I had to wait til they killed Wesley….they did kill Wesley didn’t they? No? Can we go back and re-edit? Wait, maybe this altered time line theory that everyone keeps throwing out will result in Wesley never being born. Yeah!! I can live with that! Ok, I got it….we continue in this altered time line and then redo all the Next Gen first 4 seasons episodes sans Wesley!! Yeah! I like it!!! Thanks JJ.

#295 – Post of the day. Seriously.
There wasn’t sexuality in the original Dukes of Hazzard????????????????- good god man where do you think the term “Daisy Dukes” came from? Its because Daisy sat around the whole TV show wearing those itsy bitsy pants. Umm yeah that was sexual.

As someone who is more of a “typical” fan of S. F., I hope the spirit of the original show is kept intact in that exploration of new worlds and meeting new life forms is an essential aspect of the spirit of Star Trek as are the philosophical underpinnings that Roddenberry wanted to explore (remember that even the “dumbed-down” second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before, still had the courage to cite Spinoza.)

Since when has Starfleet been primarily a peace keeping force? Where is the emphasis on exploration and discovery and the mandate for five year missions to seek out strange new worlds?

What I do not want to see is just another military SF action film. That would betray Star Trek more than any “canon violation” that some of you fans seem to be so obsessed about.

Can Abrams deliver a film about pushing the frontiers, exploring space, the thrill and danger of a voyage of discovery and questioning the very nature of what it is to be human or are we just going to have an angst-driven young Kirk taking command of a warship and saving humanity from the Romulans by killing them all in battle, just like certain other tired recent Trek films have done?

“double dumb-ass on you” and “haven’t you got any goddamned feelings about THAT?” are about the only instances of swearing that star trek needs. remember when kirk explained to spock the colorful metaphors of the time?

other than shat putting his boots back on… he would never have openly talked about sex like that. no way.

I think everyone should judge this movie when it comes out, all this bollocks about cannon I couldn’t care less, what’s important is that this movie has the essence of Star Trek and has a great story too, it’s all about entertainment. You should all get a life and wait till May 2009, I’m sure most of you idiots will all go and see the movie anyway because you all have nothing else better to do with your lives think about it? Did Khan know Chekov in TWOK…No! But you all regard this movie as the best Trek movie! Judge this movie on it’s onw merrets, if it’s crap so be it, if it’s great then it will apeal to a wider audience which is more important than worryng about fine detail.

I am respectful, but I don’t respect the intolerant. Capt. Robert April and his ilk on this board aren’t so much challenging JJKO’s creativity as they are objecting to change. They don’t want their history to progress. As I have made clear and Closettrekker has agreed, the timeline we love and honor is what leads Nero and his crew on this mission to rewrite history. Spock’s mission and the heart of this movie is in preserving the integrity of the crew, so that they’ll be around save life as we know it several dozen times during their careers.

Brand me a CARD CARRYING LEFT WING CANONISTA. I think the conservative approach to canon culminated in a spectacular lack of creativity. Although I didn’t like Deep Space Nine, it was creative and bold and took chances. It only failed INHO when it rested on its predecessor’s laurels. So I won’t piss on it the way that I will with Voyager or Enterprise. And believe me, I’ll drink of a pot of coffee just to take a strong piss on those shows.

Speaking of Enterprise, “IT’S A BEEN A LONG TIME,” since I seen some good Star Trek…

303. Michael Foote – Pop “Hide and Q” in, and press pause right when Wesley gets impaled. There you go. Or pretend that it was Wesley who died in “First Duty,” if you can wait that long. I don’t have a problem with Wesley.

Just to show I don’t take _everything_ I’ve read so far without having an opinion: I am a bit wary of introducing… not sexuality per se, Star Trek has always had some amount of sexuality to it, (I mean, have you seen how they dressed the female guest stars in TOS?) and Riker _certainly_ got his fair share… but I’m wary of the crassness. Kirk, Riker, Paris… they may have had their pick-up lines, but tongue and sheep jokes? That’s a little graphic.

Maybe I’m an old fuddy-duddy at 33, (just saying that probably makes me old) but while I’m willing to accept action-hero type stuff in Star Trek going forward, I think Trek would be better served staying above certain kinds of adult discourse.

To clarify what JJ said today – it’s not a re-boot. Bob Orci called it a ”re-inivigoration’ and this is the best way to describe it. They havent re-imagined the characters, they are ”re-introducing the characters in a different way”

There you have it

And for what it’s worth, as I said above – the film looked amazing from the 20 mins I saw. more action packed than any of the other 10 movies.

All these canonphiles are NOT respecting people who want the Star Trek name to mean epic storytelling, interesting sci-fi, and good character interactions.

No, their only concern is that their 40+ years of mass consumerism of anything with the Star Trek name, and who believed they were gaining something by being able to recite every “real” and “alleged” data point about the Star Trek universe. Face it, Star Trek is fiction, and every generation reinterprets and redoes fiction.

#301 – “Just think of TOS as a comic book series being reimagined by JJ & Company and adapted for the big screen.”

I quit following the comic book franchises a few decades ago, as barely more than a kid, because it was clear that they couldn’t keep their continuities straight. Why should I respect that being done to Star Trek? Decades of stories, dozens of writers and producers managed it pretty darn well, and this team couldn’t manage to do it for one two-hour movie set in a period when there were maybe 10 datapoints they’d actually have to keep track of? Sheesh…

“That’s what I’ve been guessing from day one and NOBODY seemed to believe me anywhere on the internet. This one’s a plain reboot, reimagining, reinterpretation of the original making use of some recognizable icons, nothing more, nothing less.”

Then the people involved with the film should have just said so, instead of lying to us. Frankly, the one slender bit of hope I’m holding to is that I really don’t want to imagine this production team as liars, and maybe there’s another explanation for what we’re seeing/reading about.

“You can’t expect Paramount to finance a new “pilot movie” for a 43 year old low-budget cult show!”

It may be 43 years old, but it really wasn’t low-budget. In fact, in the late 1960s, it was among the most expensive shows on TV. Jus’ sayin’…

“It’s an all new take, nothing more, NOTHING LESS!”

And it could have been an all-new take without betraying what had come before.

“I’m looking forward to it for what it is because that’s definitely more exciting than the second backdoor pilot of that lost Phase II series or whatever fanwank some of us were expecting.”

I dunno what anyne else was expecting, but I was expecting the story of how those characters I love had come together, but it’s starting to look like that won’t be it. Now I’m not sure what it is.

“But then, it is also a HAPPY DAY because Trek will be brought to a new generation that had no chance of entering the complex 700 episodes and 10 movie-spanning megaverse that came before…”

I guess I’m seeing it all differently, because I would have imagined that the new generation would have had every chance of entering that world, given an opportunity like a big budget movie that helped bring them into it. I thought the idea of a TOS origin story was a brilliant one, because it could have done that. As it is, well…maybe I’m wrong, like I said, but it’s looking at this nanosecond like a wonderful opportunity thrown away.

#304 – (shrug) It was never clear to *me*. I took Abrams, Orci, Kurtzman, et al. at their word that the film would be the origin story that had never been told. Even Nimoy said, outright, that those of us who were concerned that what had come before was being shoved aside had nothing to worry about, that it was not happening. I was more than willing to accept production design differences, even when I worried that they’d go too far. But now it looks like what they told us just isn’t true, and that feels worse than if they’d just said up-front that they were throwing the rest away and doing whatever they pleased.

orcster, thanks for the tip. you are a true stomach acid neutralizer kicking it hardcore like prescription strength Famotidine™ – not the cheesy Pepcid AC, over the counter crap. I’m officially standing down from yellow alert.

Thanks for slowing bringing us the changes, over time, so that we have time to adjust. Remaking something like Star Trek is sooo Kobayashi Maru to begin with. I don’t like this much being revealed this soon, but in some senses it is a good move. heck maybe by May 2009, even old captain robert april may accept things and simply… enjoy.

I don’t understand why we can’t have an epic movie and also have it not ignore Star Trek history.

If the writers felt that Kirk should be mentored by a former Captain of the Enterprise then why not make it Robert April? That would have thrilled hard core fans and not defied the continuity of Kirk’s lines in The Menagerie.

However, I have to say that I will be pissed if they blow up Vulcan…. unless if they do it in a awesome way. Really, there is this scale between awesomeness and canon. If the movie is good enough, any changes will be forgiven. If the movie is crappy…

By the way, I get this feeling that the movie will be Spock moving back through time making changes to counteract any changes Nero and his Cthulhu Ship of Time-Traveling Destruction make, but that he moves back slowly. If he were to go to the very beginning and fail, the entire universe would be a crapsack and there would be nobody else to change it. So first he is stopping in some other areas to make it so that the timeline, while messed up, won’t be the wet-dream of a Romulan Pirate. Only when he has these backup plans put into motion would Spock go and try to stop Nero at the beginning (which, I’d have to imagine, would be Kirk’s birth, which may fit into rumors of Spock being present at Kirk’s birth).

Can’t take credit for the slow assimilation. As you know, if it were up to us, nobody would even know Nimoy was in the movie until it came out. Sadly, we have to go out there and show things because we have to get people to show up.

I am sure this movie, whether good or bad, will take a ton of money and they will go on to make more sequels. However, from what I have read, it sounds as if the writers have taken little care when it comes to pre-established continuity. And by continuity, I am not referring to books or fanzines — I mean facts taken from the original 79 episodes.

I was not impressed with Transformers, I rapidly turned off Fringe, so I am not expecting a great deal from this writing team. I will go and see the movie purely because Nimoy is in it. After that, I have a feeling I will retreat into my 79 episodes and continue to enjoy them, as I have done throughout the “modern Trek era”. They can re-write the timeline, but they cannot wipe my DVDs!

Actually the dedication plaque which is visible in some episodes states “San Francisco Shipyards”. As for the rest, I think people are upset that it APPEARS from what we have so far been told about the movie, is that Kirk no longer seems to serve aboard the Farragut. The he never was on the Planet with Kodos the Executioner. That Gary Mitchell has not been mentioned. Now I am willing to bet that Bob and the gang are big enough fan boys not to miss these things, and probably have great explanations which we are not privy to….yet. Heck, Gary Mitchell may be one of the rumored surprise characters that have been kept secret.

Wow, I think even people who hadn’t been following to closely with this movie even knew that Romulans went back in time. Hmm, do you think Romulans are going to care too much if their Starfleet counterparts know them? Wow, REALLY?

“Kirk and Pike being buddies is BS.”

Yeah, because Pike is part of Kirk’s “Axis of Evil” right?

“But hey now we know that Sulu took fencing lessons! I’m glad that was revealed, it’s really been a burning question of mine for the last 30 years (note sarcasm).”

#258 Pat, I don’t know. I guess after attending a Star Trek convention I can understand how there are some really obsessed people out there that seem to believe this is real in some alternate universe or something.

What I really don’t get is how they hold TOS up to be the gold standard of what makes Star Trek what it is, yet they ignore the countless contradictions and inconsistancies in the series itself, and then turn around and blast a new movie like this for contradicting some things in TOS. Makes no sense at all.

The inconsistancies and contradictions are there becuase it’s fiction and it’s impossible to write a complex story like this set in the future and make it exciting and inject drama without a few inconsistancies and contradictions. You have to make those in order to create drama or excitement in a particular moment reguardless if some detail doesn’t fit with a previous epsiode. Most people don’t pay that close attention and even if they did they realize it’s fiction and overlook it.

345 – IMO, all the storytelling constraints that “Balance of Terror” put on Federation/Romulan history are stupid and arbitrary anyway. No warp drive or viewscreens during the Romulan War? Fighting the whole thing without even knowing what your enemy looks like?

Sure, hindsight is 20/20 and the writers of BoT couldn’t have known that people would be making movies about this stuff 40 years later, but to force Bob, Alex et al. to hew precisely to these boring constraints is ridiculous, and frankly, would make a crappy movie.

Canon purist or not, everbody here has to agree that this film has accomplished one very major thing:

People are talking about Star Trek. When was the last time that truly occured? 1987, when TNG premiered? A tiny bit with Generations, maybe… and that was it.

THIS is what Trek truly needs… a push into the light.
I do not agree with a lot of what I’ve read in the reviews ( I am a purist of Canon, fanon, whatever) but I am also just as very anxious and excited as I am nervous. What it does not need is any of us calling any of the otehrs idiots or non-fans or over-zealous purists. Everybody likes what they like and we can live with that… IDIC, after all.

Trek is back in the spotlight, and for whatever part of the franchise you are a fan of, that is direly needed to keep it going at all.

#226. thanks. it makes pretty good sense, I suppose. it would also fall into the canon of sci-fi where all things are possible. Obama is prez, right? (which COULD, but likely won’t, make it possible for the shat in ST12).

However, film is really not a good story telling technique. Its amazing to me that oral history (the illiad/odyssey, for example) has maintained its integrity over thousands of years but film makers can’t keep it consistant for five. Honestly, what’s to stop other people like JJ from just reinventing all films, like Greedo kills Han Solo, Dante doesn’t go into work at the quick stop that day, (well, they do that anyway, superman, hulk, changeling, for example). or (Tombstone, wyatt earp). if “canon” doesnt’ really matter, than neither do films, thus, neither do film makers. But I am pretty darn sure Gene would not like this unless it will all get reversed in the end (regardless of what his family thinks, no disrespect, but they are not him). its why you can respect a guy like tolkien (bad writer) and JD Salinger for NOT wanting their books put on film, becuase they know that filmmakers would jsut do what they want and the heck with the book.

If this film does not go back to the original timeline, then ALL our star trek TOS shows n movies are essentially worthless, which would also make this film worthless. If this film didnt stray TOO MUCH from star trek as it has been laid down, a lot of us would have no problem. But its like going back in time and stopping LHO from killing JFK..wait, that WAS a Gene Roddenberry idea..I THINK I SWALLOWED A BUG

I’m not worried in the slightest about minor canon changes. Trek has always messed with canon. If this were a new TOS film with the original cast, no one would care if they messed with canon a little, as long as we had the characters we know and love.

And that’s why I like the sound of these scenes. They seem spot on i terms of character, and the sense of fun and friendship that TOS had. If TOS was still running today, it would no doubt be slightly “edgier” than an 1960s TV show. And that’s the only difference I can percieve in these scenes.

Look at it this way: I love TNG. Now, if I watch any episode from TNG’s first season (and maybe second), I not only find plenty of canon that is inconsistent with later episodes, but I find that the whole tone of the show is different, and characters are different. But despite this, I still watch these episodes because it’s close enough to enjoy. However, by the sound of it, this film is in no way a departure from the characters or “tone” that we know of TOS. The creators are not trying to “improve” those things, because they understand that they are already perfect. The only thing that is changing is certain minor elements of canon, which are being changed for the sake of the story.

Hey, I am a canon purist, but if it is a good story I will over look a lot. That is why I overlooked Dr McCoy taking back the pill he slapped in the old lady’s hand and she still grew a new kidney, in TVH. That is why I overlooked the Chekov Line in TWOK. Heck, that is why I overlooked the ridges on Kang, Kor and Koloth when they were on DS9 (a much maligned, but I feel superior spin off).

At around 9pm (when the kids went to bed) my wife asked me if I wanted to “watch a Star Trek” since it was my birthday and she knows how much I love it (she isn’t a huge fan of TOS, kinda annoys her although she does enjoy it from time to time, I can tell…)

So I put in “What Are Little Girls Made Of” and my birthday went from “eh” to very content!!

Some GREAT moments in that episode (“Androids don’t eat, Miss Chapel…” etc), yet you rarely hear anyone rave about it…

All these accusations of “betrayal”, “lying”, “disrespect”…does anybody really have enough evidence to make such remarks? I’ve been a Trekker since the 70s and have thus far felt no cause for such outbursts.

For goodness sake, get some baby powder and soothe that diaper rash, people! All the whining is getting irritating.

AHHHHHH GO TO TREKWEB.COM NOW!!! THE ENTERPRISE AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ITS ITS UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHO SAID IT LOOKS LIKE THE ORIGINAL LOLOLOLOL, ahhh its nice :) im happy

In either timeline, the loss of Kirk’s father would possibly serve to transform him from the reckless rebel to the serious bookworm. Finnegan would have been the one to finally get under Kirk’s skin enough for the old-school hellion to come out and fight.

I can also buy a classified mission wherein Kirk and Pike meet, thus giving the lie to Kirk’s line to Mendez in “Menagerie”. Mendez’ line about the age thing has already been discussed to death.

Vonda McIntyre’s book “Enterprise” was a take on Kirk’s first mission, and she has Uhura and Scotty both serving under Pike.

One of the novels (I forget which) mentioned something about McCoy coming to the Enterprise as CMO, then having to take a leave for a time, which is when Piper came in as a temp, then McCoy came back to duty.

I don’t buy the whole “everyone’s at the Academy at the same time” line, though.

#348—-“I already noted above that this is the only clear “canon” shift.”

I disagree that it is even a “canon shift”.

The possibility and existence of alternate timelines is in itself ‘canon’.

The attack on the USS Kelvin some 3+ decades prior to TOS by Romulans from the post-Nemesis era isn’t supposed to happen, according to the timeline with which we are all so familiar.

It is not a shift in canon, but a continuation of it…Look at it this way…Everything which transpires in the timeline we know leads to Nero and his cohorts deciding to take action to alter the past. The “canon” we know is therefore inherently relevant to the story in question. That is, IMO, the one element which precludes this from being either a “reboot” or a “prequel”.

Since Pike serves aboard the Kelvin with Kirk’s father, it is reasonable to conclude that something about that incident changes Pike’s potential relationship with the elder Kirk’s son. Whereas Kirk may have met Pike “when he was promoted to Fleet Captain” before, that is obviously not the case this time around. They will apparently have a more significant relationship due to events unfolding somewhat differently as a result of Nero’s actions.

Since alternate timelines are themselves canon, it can hardly be a violation, as long as the “changes” are a result of the timeline interference.

Could we hope that the canonists will have figured out by now there will be changes from the ridged forms they think have to take place… and stop coming to this site?

Seriously, you have expressed your point– you wish they had stayed within the narrow confines of what has been established (even when it contradicts itself, but we won’t go into that), you wish the bridge looked just like the plywood one from the 60’s (although you will allow for some changes, though how that doesn’t disagree with canon is beyond me) and you don’t like Pine’s blue eyes. Okay, noted on all the above.

But, Paramount has just made a MAJOR investment in this movie, and this is the way things are going to be. Ever thought about the idea that because of this movie, there will be a lot more interest in TOS. That there will be a lot more people interested in watching those episodes who never would have seen them before. How wonderful is that.

So, if you have decided you don’t like the movie already because Kirk’s eyes won’t be blue, or they have not slavishly stuck to the “timeline,” then do yourself a favor and stop making yourself sick by coming to this site. That way those who are excited can be excited, those who aren’t don’t have to get upset with those who are, and we can all be happy.

I totally understand where you’re coming from on one hand. On the other (and I’ll almost certainly be in the minority around here on this) I just don’t get the blind reverence that some people have for Trek’s “serious” reputation. It’s supposed to be fun!

I’m not saying this movie should take itself less seriously than TOS did. But it should definitely take itself less seriously than many TOS fans do.

#339 – “I don’t understand why we can’t have an epic movie and also have it not ignore Star Trek history.”

Me, neither. There’s so little in the way of canonical datapoints in that period, anyway, that it’d be easy.

#359 – “345 – IMO, all the storytelling constraints that “Balance of Terror” put on Federation/Romulan history are stupid and arbitrary anyway. No warp drive or viewscreens during the Romulan War? Fighting the whole thing without even knowing what your enemy looks like?”

Umm… Nobody ever said, even canonically, that warp drive and viewscreens didn’t exist during the Romulan War. See, I never understood how people got that. There pretty much had to be FTL capability, and the whole who-didn’t-see-who issue is as simple as the Romulans not turning on their interior cameras. That always seemed ike making a mountain out of a molehill.

EW.com has a genuine, honest-to-goodness, real picture of the new Enterprise. Looks…well…, I don’t think it looks like a blend of TOS and TMP designs at all. In fact, the engineering/secondary hull looks like a relative to the Enterprise-D. The primary hull looks like the refit, but from there the design just has too many pointless changes.

It’s not awful, just…not the TOS Enterprise. But it’s pretty cool in and of itself. I just wanted a more retro-TOS look…this is not a canon-fitting design.

Don’t click unless you REALLY want to see the REAL Enteprise. No joke, no rick-rolling. (A friend told me of the pic and sent me the link.)

As many comments have expressed, Trek fans are hoping that his movie will somehow fit into the continuity of all that has come before. Certainly it will amplify the backstories of characters we know and love, and since the script was in the hands of true fans I am still optimistic that those backstories will feel “right” by the end of the movie. Those may not be the backstories any of us imagined, but if the actors do a good job at “selling” their versions of the TOS crew then the Trek universe will become richer for their backstories. As I was saying to one of my Trek friends, as long as the look of the movie is (more or less) post-ENT and pre-TMP then I will not complain – I really don’t believe that the look of the 60s sets would work on a movie screen today. And while these scene descriptions may rightfully cause some apprehension for fans of Trek continuity (and I do consider myself one of the crowd) it is hard to judge them out of context. Landru knows that Trek before this movie has never been entirely consistent with itself, but if the basic parameters of the Trek universe remain unchanged – and, as hoped for above, enriched by this “introduction” – then this should be a welcome addition to the saga. IIRC, one of the “supreme court” posited on trekmovie.com that watching TOS after this movie will not be like watching a completely different animal, such as watching the two versions of BSG.

Nope, I see the entier AICN report here in this picture… overexaggerated, but I see it..

The secondary hull does look skimpy in the back… somehow not as dynamic as the original 1701, but I don’t hate it.
Just not overly crazy. I think if the dish wasn’t quite so thrown forward of the neck it would look better. But it’s still a damn site prettier than the D ever was!!!

Just took a look on trekweb.com. I suggest that all of you puritans out there go to the website, look at the (only slightly) new Enterprise and take a valium. Good grief, people! The movie doesn’t come out for another 6 months! You’re all going to be dead from cardiac arrest by then!

I for one am really looking forward to May 9th. The reference to Archer and his dog are a strong indication that there will be plenty of bones (pardon the pun) thrown to the fans, and the movie itself will no doubt be totally entertaining. Just relax, everyone!

#153 said – Look, the Canon that we’ve accumulated in 40+ years of Trek all created the milquetoast future of the UFP that leads Nero to travel back in time. With due respect to the Right Wing Canonistas on this site, the timeline now loops backward. Cry yourselves out, take a nap, and then accept that JJ&KO were a little truthy about this not being a reboot. But to state that this movie doesn’t respect canon is silly.

I agree completely! It’s supposed to be new, a shot in the arm to a dying franchise, a ‘re-invigoration.’ The Non-Canonistas already love it — just what Star Trek needs to survive and prosper. 98% of the complainers will eagerly see it and most of them, IMHO, will greatly enjoy it. Only the bitterest will bitch ‘No Jose Tyler, no Captain Garrovick, is Sulu older than Kirk’? The rest of us, even those who remember sitting in front of the TV on September 8, 1966 and never losing faith since then, will be as much on Cloud Nine as many of us were on Election Night — a new human adventure is just beginning.

If film isn’t a good storytelling technique, boy are we all a bunch of losers wasting our time. Well, okay, that could be true anyway, but given the size of the industry and the obvious interest from laypeople in new films, I think there is clear evidence that film is at least a compelling way to tell a story. All the old methods are still around, from sitting around a campfire, to reading your kid a story, to listening to a radio drama, reading a comic book, playing a story-based computer game… we have an infinity of storytelling methods, film hardly least among them.

Sci-fi fans: how many of you love The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy? Now there’s a story that’s been told in just about every medium imaginable, AND violated its own canon with every version, written by the SAME guy no less!* I think it’s the best example of how, when you’ve got something to say, a story to tell, there’s nothing wrong with taking some liberties.

That said, contrary to all the furor, very few liberties have been taken from Star Trek canon. If I wanted to fit this thing into canon (though as I’ve said I don’t really care), I would just ignore Kirk’s line in The Menagerie as an inconsistency or cover-up for some reason, and the “Romulan Problem” as a timeline change. No need to “throw out” 40 years of Trek canon, not that I think you need to even if they made Spock purple.

Robert April is not canon, in the strictest sense. That’s it, Pike and Romulans, that’s all you’ve got to worry about. Seems like not much. If you’re still hung up on visual changes, nobody can help you.

It’s very off-topic, but I can’t begin to fathom the comment “Tolkien (bad writer).” You must live on a different planet. And I think, given the demanding nature of the literature, Jackson’s LOTR films are the best novel-to-film adaptations of all time.

But to answer the question, what’s to stop filmmakers from just changing everything? Nothing at all. They do it all the time. Sometimes out of storytelling necessity (LOTR), sometimes to suit their own idea of the story, sometimes to explore a what-if. Not everyone will agree with every new version. But one particular artist’s new take on an old work does not diminish the quality of that original work, unless you somehow let it in your own mind. I didn’t see the Duke’s of Hazzard film, it looked like it was going to be atrocious, but the fact that it exists doesn’t diminish my fond memories of the original series.

* I will grant you that Douglas Adams passed before the film was finished, but the film was no less/more/whatever inconsistent than Adams’ own work had been with itself.

I’m sure TOS writers would be the first to agree that good storytelling and characters should go before ‘canon’ any day… TOS itself was not continuous and fully adhering to itself, let alone the rest of the spin-offs… James R. Kirk anyone?? …This sounds like it will be a great movie all around, as well as great Trek, and I think they’ll be more than generous with the references, nods, and attempt at keeping things fairly consistent with established details, considering what they’re doing. People complaining about the little things being off need to get a grip and look at the big picture. Trek is coming back, and it’s going to be AMAZING.

you remember when we was kids, and at night we’d have star trek dreams, and in those dreams everything was a lil out of sequence and the big E – while we knew it was the big E – didnt quite look like the big E but in the dream state it didnt matter because it all worked for the dream. then we we woke up the next morning, it seemed a lil stranger … like i was dreaming about star trek but it only kinda looked like star trek but I knew it was star trek and it was real to me.

OK, Belfast, not Dublin. Knew it was an Irish capital – got confused as to which one. My point was that it was built in one place and commissioned in another. This could easily follow through for Enterprise. This follows through to my larger point – don’t confuse established canon with ‘fanon’ – what fans believe to be canon.

Like Kirk not being a bit of a jackass when he was younger. Yes, of course – you can really picture him being the studious type! Did somebody mention Kobayashi Maru? My point exactly!

Everything I hear about this film is good – it is staying faithful to the spirit of Trek, and not necessarily picking over every word of dialogue.

‘Ooooh, Chekov’s too young to be in this movie.’ Yeah, would really be a bit crap if he WASN’T, though, wouldn’t it? A bit of a conspicuous omission? SO WHAT?! Other bits of canon conflict each other! Hell, we can’t even agree on what is canon and what isn’t (TAS)!

Canon does conflict. So does history. Here’s a quick explanation – maybe Chekov was JOKING about his age in TOS. Maybe he WAS on the Enterprise in ‘Space Seed’ and met Khan in the toilet, as Koenig likes to put it.

Not convinced on the Enterprise, though – the picture is a little odd. The Engineering section looks too squashed up to the saucer section and I don’t like the nacelles. At all.

I think that we are going at this the wrong way. First thing that we should do is ask ourselves what is the essence of Star Trek. Is it expanding the universe that Gene created and sticking to it, no matter the cost. Or was it the essence of Star Trek to challenge the scientific community, to inspire them, to challenge the boundaries that holds the world back, to teach us something about ourselves, and that we can work, no matter the backgrounds, as one.

Can we inspire the world again trough Star Trek, especially with this new era of Star Trek with JJ and Co, at the helm. Can this new era inspire NASA to name their ship again Enterpise, can this new era inspire CNN to make a breaktrough in some new ST related technology. Can this new era inspire people like Stephen Hawking to say… Hey, I’m working at this pointing to a Star Trek technology.

I’m from Macedonia and I will ask you to bare with me for a moment because i will go in a different realm. Some of you may know, a lot of you surely don’t. My country is being blocked from entering NATO and the European Union because Greece has a problem with us. The problem is our name. The terms are change your name and we will support your entrance to this organizations, which for a small country like us and the region that we are in is imperative and the only way to survive, yes survive as a nation, to join this ORGs. The Greek side has there points about the issue, our side has ones etc.. By mentioning this I’m not trying to relate a message or win sympathy. My point about this is will this new era of Star Trek with JJ and Co, inspire the world to just let go of this trivial issues.

Because Gene’s Star Trek did all of this things. This is Star Trek for me, this is what i want to see in this new era. When I go in the cinema in May with my nephew, and when we walk out of that door after 2 hours, i want to see the look in his eyes that he learned something about what it is to be a human being. As ones I had and still have. I want to see that and not an adrenaline rush.

If i see this things in the movie, i won’t care that much about what kirk said in the turbolift in TOS, on how he met Pike. Or why did Uhura ordered cardassian drink. Or where the heck was Chekov in Space Seed. I really won’t give a sh*t.

First of all I want to address the fellow fans that are here. We can all at least give a credit to the team behind Star Trek for being us with here and doing the same thing that I am doing at the moment. It’s a real honor and it has never before been done in Star Trek.

That being said I want to ask Bob Orci. We’ll your Star Trek inspire? And I want to ask you what you think and I don’t want you to tell me you’ll be the judge. Because ethier way I will be the judge. But I want you to say to me that you are confident that Star Trek will inspire the next generations.

Thats Star Trek what’s all about to me. If you achieve this, as somone said here, you’ll be God amongst men.

Hmm, with THOSE warp nacelles it looks like a car in the 1950s äähh 2250s…*g* The surface of the back hull seems to me a little bit polished and unstructured. There I’m missing textures for more detail. Well, let’s see more pictures hopefully to come. So and you guys have an explanation for these changes? Someone said, the destruction of the USS Kelvin causes same effects like the Enterprise-C coming out of the singularity in TNG’s “Yesterdays’s Enterprise”. Are there any indications for these kind of thoughts?

I’m gobsmacked by some of the gormless, downright idiotic reactions here! Have you never read comic books? Have you never read stuff like the Crisis of Infinite Earths? ‘Canonical reboots’ are nothing new.

To address one or two of the idiots out there:

The absence of Pike’s crew seen in The Cage – The Cage was 11 years earlier, so why should they still be serving under Pike? Different officers could have been promoted, retired or killed in action.

Uhura and Chekov serving under Pike: there was no indication that they hadn’t worked for him in TOS. They also served under Pike in Enterprise: The First Adventure, IIRC!

Uhura sex scene – cool! I really have no problem with this! She’s young, she’s hot, you so would, given the opportunity! After all, this is a film about a young crew! ;)

Bar fights and Classic Budweiser – Gasp! Star Trek reconnects with the real world for the first time since The Undiscovered Country! I don’t see why drinks and companies that have lasted decades can’t last for centuries. I hope they have money in this film as well!

Older Nimoy’s Spock – I’ll assume he’s been in the past since the events prior to Kirk’s birth and has been carefully been playing Prometheus ever since.

Admiral Archer’s Beagle – Admiral Archer could be President Archer’s son or unrelated. if it is Jonathan Archer’s beagle, why does it have to be the same one? Chances are he had more than one beagle in his life!

The ‘tougher’ Enterprise – well, to be fair, she’s always been a warship, given the phenomenal destructive weaponry she packs. If she’s bigger and more badass than before, maybe that’s because a series of destructive events in the past resulted in the Constitution Class being given a sturdier build.

‘Canon violations’ – God help us! I so desperately loathe all this canon rubbish! We all know pilots invariably have anomalies compared with the regular series they spawn. Gary Mitchell and his comments about Kirk were never borne out by the way we came to see Kirk behave later on in the series. The canon obsession, curiously, seems to come from fans of TNG and its successors. Growing up, I never remember there being quite so much paranoia about it. The books and comics were pretty much all we had alongside the original shows, cartoon series and movies until 1987. We were all pretty chilled out about it! Roddenberry himself was happy to play fast and loose with Trek history when setting up TNG.

I’m saddened that the idiot ‘fans’ on this board are so lacking in imagination these days. When I was younger it was fun to discuss the contradictions and not have everything explained in minute, anal detail. Nowadays, you’d all be begging for an explanation for Khan keeping on his glove in TWOK and a definitive history of Chekov on board the Big E to explain Khan knowing him.

Chill out everyone and use your imaginations. We’re dealing with a reinvigoration of a great concept, not a complete rewriting of a religious text!

Sounds like ANOTHER “Kirk is so magnificent” piece. I’m not a Kirk fan and don’t think I can sit through 2 hours of seeing and hearing about his greatness again. Reading the description, I remember just how sick and tired I got of hearing about how great Kirk or Picard or Janeway were in theior respective series. I think I’m losing interest as well as my lunch. Should have revolved around the greatness of the other characters more.

Amazing how people can judge this movie so early, after so little is let out.
And Kirk–and Spock–ARE Star Trek. I’m not a Kirk fan either, but let’s face it, he was Star Trek’s first captain. The series WAS ABOUT HIM, and Spock, and McCoy, and to a much lesser extent, the others. Kirk is the hero; that’s all there is to it.

#430 Donn, thank you. I’ve found TrekMovie.com to be one of the most influential, objective and realistic, fan spots in the entire internet community. And I’m really pleased if I can contribute to that image.

And to be on the safe side… I want to apologize if I offended someone with the politcal part of my post. It was not my intention.

Dang, that does all sound very cool, although is anyone else getting nightmares about this becoming JJ Abrams version of Jonathan Frakes’ “Thunderbirds”???? i dunno i just get the feeling with all the bright colours and white retro look and the childish banter and brash brash “OC” kinda sounding James Kirk – it sounds like Alan from Thunderbirds… the almost cliche zero to hero story???

Dang, that does all sound very cool, although is anyone else getting nightmares about this becoming JJ Abrams version of Jonathan Frakes’ “Thunderbirds”???? i dunno i just get the feeling with all the bright colours and white retro look and the childish banter and brash brash “OC” kinda sounding James Kirk – it sounds like Alan from Thunderbirds… the almost cliche zero to hero story???

Surely Kirk deserves better than to have a story like Ryan’s from The OC?

This may be heresy to say here but why should i care if Trek is coming back if it’s unrecognizable to me? I loved TOS and was so hoping this movie would be true to the characters and events and yes at lest most of the history established there, but so far at least, there seem to be too many changes for my taste.

#429: Yeap, not exactly the same temporal mechanics but yes, the attack on the Kelvin will start a new timeline, one without Kirk’s father being involved with the construction of the big E, leading to different results in design and maybe even purpose, crew compliment etc…Kirk’s career will change significantly…

Remember when you wanted to do something different everyday so life would not get boring. When you got to go some place and see new things and your days were an adventure. Don’t let go of this kind of feeling. If you do you’ll shut yourself out of challenges and wonders that are unlimited. This film will be an adventure. Treat it as such. Having something to look forward too is a good feeling. Now more than ever we need to be able to have things to be excited about . Star Trek is continuing be happy about it.
…AND THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES……….

442 – “This may be heresy to say here but why should i care if Trek is coming back if it’s unrecognizable to me? I loved TOS and was so hoping this movie would be true to the characters and events and yes at lest most of the history established there,”

If that be heresy, then call me heretic. :)

I feel the same way. I wouldn’t have thought that they’d be particularly hamstrung by what few continuity datapoints were actually established in early TOS. If they really couldn’t navigate their way through, what, ten of them? while writing a two-hour movie, most of which has to be new story, anyway, I have to wonder about their capabilities as writers.

In fairness, production design is a much dicier thing, because they really do have to reach a modern audience with different sensibilities, and I’m willing to cut some slack on that. But basic continuity? No. It’s so easy that I don’t feel they need a lot of quarter on that. And the Trek writers are bright guys; I’ve seen and enjoyed their work. They’re not incapable of getting it right.

One’s improbable, but worth considering. One’s just interesting to note.

Rumor for a long time has had it that in the various alternate timelines we’d see in this movie, at least one would have a significantly different Enterprise, one which is primarily a warship. Perhaps they’ve released an image of that one, just to keep us guessing. (Yeah, I know, not likely, but impossible…? ;) ) (Actually, might it be that one or more of the scenes they released is also in an alternate universe that is dealt with later in the film?)

Also, I just keep coming back to the fact that we were told that Mr. Shatner couldn’t play an older Kirk in this film because the character had died in “Generations”. So, *is* it really a massive reboot, or was that just another smokescreen? Because if it’s that much of a reboot, why all the sturm und drang about not including an older Kirk? Something is just not adding up. Or was that just an excuse because they just didn’t want Mr. Shatner in the film? Or… Oh, never mind. On the way of the next “or” would lie madness. ;)

The nacelles tips are awesome, they really do make the E look like a powerful hot rod, but still majestic. I have a feeling that like most other starships in Trek, different views of the ship will be more appreciated than others, but right now, this is an awesome design!

I’m a Doctor Who fan, but I detest the drivel the overrated Russell T Davies has put out under the name Doctor Who these last four years! So you know what I did? I stopped watching it and stopped visiting Doctor Who-related fora. It’s not hard to do if you feel no investment in the new version.

I disliked the way in the 1990s everyone seemed to start trumpeting TNG and its cohorts as the second coming and laughing at the original Star Trek.

I ‘kept the faith’ by not getting involved in the Star Trek world anymore. I watched the occasional episode of a Trek spinoff show, some of which were very good, many of which truly depressed me and gritted my my teeth through three of the four TNG movies, enjoying First Contact. I mostly left the TNG films shaking my head sadly at how Star Trek had been driven so low.

And I really missed the days of Kirk, Spock and McCoy, but accepted that I could still watch the original shows, cartoons and six films. I also read the occasional book, but preferred the ones written pre-TNG as the existence of a century-later series reduced the scope of adventures the original characters could experience.

But what I didn’t do was hover round boards screeching like a syphilis-ridden fishwife that TNG was all wrong! I stayed away until the new film was announced.

And, as far as I was concerned, if proper Star Trek was to come back, it would have to be a ground-up revamp. I think the guys behind the film have been remarkably generous to include as much old-school background material as they have.

The original Star Trek was a blood and thunder action-adventure series, full of passion, beautiful women, red- (and green-)blooded men, space battles and fistfights. It also had a nice line in self-deprecating humour to undercut the potential preachiness of some of its philosophical discussions.

The new Trek film appears to have taken all that and dosed it up with steroids. In other words, from my point of view, Abrams and his team have ‘got’ Trek in a way that none of the other spinoff shows did. Far from being unrecognisable, this sounds like proper Star Trek: a Star Trek that’s got its balls back!

When another industry fella lurked in message boards to promote “Live Free or Die Hard,” he was nowhere to be seen after it was released. Will you try to not be like the infamous “Walter B.” and come here after the premiere’s dust has settled?

Gracias, from another UT alum!

PS. Are there going to be any US screenings of these clips? Other clips? Will JJ, et al, consider any cutting/pickups based on those comments?

#446—All of the continuity of the 5 series and 10 movies remains intact, as long as any ‘changes’ to the backstory with which we are all so familiar are solely due to timeline interference.

Every event depicted in filmed Trek in the last 4+ decades leads up to the point where Nero and his cohorts decide to take action to alter the past. Therefore, the continuity we know is inherently relevant to the story about to be told to the World.

The attacks upon the USS Kelvin some three-plus decades prior to what we know as TOS (assuming it did not occur in the previous timeline) is inevitably going to produce a ripple effect in the timeline, changing much of what we know of Kirk’s backstory from episodes like “WNMHGB”, “Obsession”, “The Conscience Of The King”, and “Court-Martial”.

It also makes it less likely that the Federation would be unaware of the physical appearance of the Romulans by the time of the incursion by the BOP across the Neutral Zone in the Mid 2260’s.

It will no doubt affect th backstories of others as well, including Christopher Pike. It would be ridiculous to assume that, in ‘this’ timeline, everything would pretty much play out the way it did before.

Perhaps the attack on the Kelvin 4 days prior to Kirk’s birth makes Pike more interested in the son of the man he served with aboard that ship. I got the impression that George Kirk did something to distinguish himself (in a way he may not have before) during the attack.

My guess is, Nimoy’s Spock has set out to “correct” as much as he can, including assuring that JTK will eventually assume command of the Enterprise during its famous 5 year mission.

The bottom line to me is, nothing we have seen before is suddenly irrelevant. It is all a part of what leads us to here.

That’s why this is ‘not’ a “reboot”, nor is it a true “prequel”. In fact, since everything from ENT-Nemesis is required to get the story where it is headed, it has more attributes of a “sequel” than anything else.

I think that, by utilizing the built-in giant loophole in Star Trek canon, they may be breaking the mold here on revisiting old franchises !!!

They may also create something very different…..not quite a ‘sequel’, but not a ‘prequel’ or traditional ‘reboot’ either.

Everything which came before is required for the story. I think that’s what makes it fit in with the other movies/television series.

Of course! That’s when we can finally talk openly about everything! We’ll screen some stuff here, but not until later. The rest of the world needs some attention early because Trek has never been big overseas.

I guess TPTB finally found a way to slip product placement in a Star Trek film. Certainly, there is not another example of this. The marshmallow dispenser in ST5 doesn’t count, as there were no logos on it. At least from what I remember.

Unless we count all of the street scenes on ST4. Anything else blatant in that flick?

# 456 When you live in a place like this you are very careful of picking the right words. Just mentioning an issue can have major reactions, and i didn’t want to screw up the discussion here, which fortunately i didn’t. :)

But i would like Bob’s response on 428 and soon because my german shepherd is giving me the look that says if you don’t take me out now i’ll shit all over the place. :)))

Whatever the case, it certainly whetted the appetite for May 8, 2009, and if the rest of the film is anything like these four scenes, it looks like Abrams and Co. will have a monster hit on their hands.

I guess the bottle of Dom hitting the “B” in Generations might count. As far as placement in ST: Cero, it’s either KO wrote it, or were “compelled” to write it, re: a product plug. Won’t ruin the movie for me either way! :)

For everyone freaking out about cannon.
Yesterdays Enterprise people!!

Possible spoilers:

Just as the Enterprise C going through that rift, not only, allowed Tasha Yar to be alive and on the Enterprise. The Enterprise it self was different, the uniforms, even the characters (Picard being much more of a ‘war time” captain), this new film will contain an event similar, in which the time line changes…just like in Yesterdays.

I believed in you from the moment you took over the franchise, eventhough my faith has been in a little crisis today, but I still think that you can pull it off. If not in this picture than in the next movie or show. Just hope you are right. And I hope that Kirk is not a Paul Teutul 23rd century replica.

One more query for this evening, Herr Orci… Obviously, I haven’t seen the trailer yet, so can you enlighten film score nerds, like myself as to what music is used in said trailer? Giacchino? Or scores from previous Trek endeavors?

#475 wicked! Big fan of his work, got both Alias soundtracks, which incidentally I am rewatching. I miss Alias, but I’ve forgotten so much about the early episodes its like watching them again fresh. Incidentally I really rated Will Tippin, and was shocked to hear that wasn’t a popular opinion.

#452 – “#446—All of the continuity of the 5 series and 10 movies remains intact, as long as any ‘changes’ to the backstory with which we are all so familiar are solely due to timeline interference.

Every event depicted in filmed Trek in the last 4+ decades leads up to the point where Nero and his cohorts decide to take action to alter the past. Therefore, the continuity we know is inherently relevant to the story about to be told to the World.”

If the end result, when the movie is done and all the smoke clears, is that future productions are not taking place in a different fictional world from the last 5 series and 10 films, I’ll be completely fine and dandy with everything you just said. Ditto if the world they end up in is considered so similar that all the rest is still considered “valid” for the purposes of the storytelling going forward. If not, then no matter how one tap-dances around the fact, it has shoved what has come before aside and all that has been built up to this point is mooted for the purposes of further Trek projects…at least under this team’s lead. That is not my idea of a good thing.

As I’ve said, I’ll give this team every chance to prove my fears wrong, that this will still be a part of the “Star Trek Universe”, both in its beginning and at its end, irrelevant of what happens in between those two points. I owe them that much. But I’m sad, really, because for the first time since they announced this production, I’ve crossed the divide between being basically optimistic and hoping not to be proven wrong, and basically pessimistic and hoping not to be proven right. :(

Y’know, it’s ironic. On another board, I was talking with someone who had given up on continuity because he felt that ENT had messed everything up. And if indeed there will be, after this film, a separate Abramsverse, as distinct from the Trekverse Prime, ENT will be the only part of what came before that the two share.

Ironically maybe all this time travel-related destruction was part of what Future Guy and the Temporal Cold War was actually about and Star Trek: Enterprise really did end up being part of a different timeline!

#479: “Y’know, it’s ironic. On another board, I was talking with someone who had given up on continuity because he felt that ENT had messed everything up. And if indeed there will be, after this film, a separate Abramsverse, as distinct from the Trekverse Prime, ENT will be the only part of what came before that the two share.”

Well, that and Captain Kirk and Spock and the starship Enterprise and phasers and warp drive and the Federation and Romulans and almost everything else.

“Bar fights and Classic Budweiser – Gasp! Star Trek reconnects with the real world for the first time since The Undiscovered Country! I don’t see why drinks and companies that have lasted decades can’t last for centuries. I hope they have money in this film as well!”

That’s great. Sure. Perhaps, they’ll even have a Sony viewscreen on the bridge, Motorola communicators, Smith & Wesson phasers etc. Perhaps, Kirk even drives a BMW and listens to music on his ipod. Wouldn’t that be great? Let’s have some futuristic product placement. Makes Star Trek more real and makes it easier for people to connect to this futuristic world.

But seriously, from what I’ve read so far about the movie, it’s going to be just another blockbuster action adventure with lame jokes, slapstick elements, a lot of CGI scenes, lots of action scenes etc. trying to appeal to almost everyone and thus ending up being just another uninteresting, boring film with cardboard characters that you don’t really care about, a film in itself nothing more than a cliché. And this isn’t Star Trek. It’s just the average Hollywood blockbuster trying to appeal to everyone and thus really appealing to no one at all. This is Star Trek for the video game generation. It will end up being just like a video game, but worse, because in a videogame you can play an active part, whereas here all you can do is passively watch.

The problem here isn’t even the canon issue. The problem is that Star Trek at its best was about sensation, a kind of wonder, about people “exploring strange, new worlds”, boldly going “where one has gone before”, thus exploring their own human nature.

But this film offers just another story where Earth/mankind is being attacked by ruthless aliens who seek to destroy the human race. Of course, these aliens are fought and in the end our heroes have saved the human race. In the meantime we get lots of space battles showing us what can be achived with CGI today. But this isn’t Star Trek. This isn’t about exploration and adventure, it’s just another sci-fi action movie with mindless space battles, too long (boring) CGI sequences, lacking “soul”.

Most of the Star Trek movies were lacking this adventure/exploration element that made the Original Series great. But at least they gave us the familiar characters that we liked. The new film is different in that it shows us characters with familiar names that are nonetheless a lot different from the characters we know from the Original Series. And, of course, it won’t give us the exploration element, either. (Just as so many of the Voyager and Enterprise episodes failed to do.) So this might become a financial success, but it won’t have anything to do with Star Trek as we know it.

422. Donn:
well, losers would not really be the title i would assign. im not hear to hurl names and i dont believe people are losers for watching film. I’m merely stating how that BECAUSE of people like Bob Orci saying they sifted through the novels, shows and films (thanks for clarifying that JJ is here to just do what he is told, not to have anything to do with writing), and then going ahead and writing any darn movie you pleased just trading on names to tell YOUR story with utter disregard to foundation, film as a story telling medium is severely worse than all other methods. Film is for the people who dont wanna read a book (lets face it, most people dont read a book nor have an attention span longer than Captain Robert April’s posts). Film is for the majority who make the daily fault of believing what their eyes show them without any furhter investigation. Honestly, how many people here have even read a star trek book (or more than one, for that matter?)
People dont write a book then go back and change the book or other people go back and write a book changing all that stuff, i believe you’d get your askicked for that. Like I said, what would everyone do if they went back and remade Godfather? Or dare I invoke a remake of the holy trilogy? or TWOK for that matter?
Yeah, i thought so. I dont mind if the enterprise looks a bit different, or the uniforms with slight changes, and i really dont even know where this (not the poster of this name) Captain Robert April came from. I never heard of him. I do know of Pike though and I know Kirk made a quick reference to him in Menagerie, I think.
As far as me living on a different planet, I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. And on my planet *where we don’t have warp drive yet, but thanks for interfering, we’re working on that now* tolkien’s books are debatable for “best screen adaptations”. Also never saw the Dukes of Hazzard movie here. We don’t get crap remakes out here, maybe because we’re not part of the federation of planets (yet) though there is a company called Haliburton who said they are coming to our country to give us democracy and build us into the 21st century, if you could help us with any research on that company, it would be helpful. Or if spock could, even better.
Clearly, this flick is for only those with touch ipods and have never watched star trek. (As far as orci saying that they don’t know much about trek overseas, perhaps he’s missed out on the countless conventions WORLD WIDE for the last 35 years and have never heard of them on his planet, or rented Trekkies to SEE the conventions in every other country. I get it if IRAQ has not seen Trek, I think Bush is killing two birds with one stone over there though, bringing both democracy and star trek (not the same thing). No, we are intentionally being ignored as far as being shown advanced screenings of Trek becuase Orci and co. dont care about us here. They just wanna woo the world wide audience with its new FX and try to brainwash them like the people here who (and 90% of you have said it over and over on this site: story doesn’t matter, just as along as it looks cool) and Orci and crew know that, so they will take your billion dollars for the three films they’ll give us and then walk away like a young man who just had a quickie on a frat girl. the poster Captain Robert April was right “grab onto your ankles” and as one poster replied, “Well, at least he gave us a reach around”. I like you Orci, I’ll even let you violate my sister just like you violated star trek..

You guys are concluding quite a bit from someone else’s perspective on 20 minutes of footage…

Star Trek was and is about a vision….a vision that promises that Mankind will not destroy itself, but instead, will unite to conquer the social ills which plague us today and to explore the final frontier.

I don’t see anything in the alternate development of these iconic characters which violates that… and certainly not in a few second-hand accounts of 20 minutes of footage from a 120 minute film (which are, by the way, probably the most positive reviews of any Star Trek film).

I have been a fan of Star Trek for 30 years, but what I want most from a movie is to be entertained. Unfortunately, by the time this film is released, it will have been 18 years since a Star Trek film actually did that…

I am more enthusiastic now than I have been about a Star Trek film since standing in line at the theater back in 1982.

#484—As for the “90%” who supposedly say all the time that “story doesn’t matter as long as it looks cool”, I have to ask—Are you on the right website? I spend quite a bit of time here, and have just about everyday for a long time. Who are you talking about?

Star Trek won’t miss you, guys. Just don’t go and see the movie. No one will force you.

‘I wish people would stop dictating their personal canon as gospel, decrying what JJ and co are doing. Get over yourselves, you don’t have to watch this film if it doesnt fit into your warped little world.’

And watch as this movie FAILS as a result of not adhering to canon and the vision trekkies have of the future. Once and for all, get it through your heads that those who have supported and continue to support the franchise, specifically true geek trekkies, ought to be catered to.

We have every right to demand they cater to us. I’ve spent enough money on star trek items in my young life that I could have a very big yard sale with it all. But my support for anything but the original roddenberry vision has dwindled into nothing.

#485. No, Star Trek won’t miss me at all, or ain’t you been listening. Star Trek isn’t for people who have seen and liked star trek. It’s for 13-29 year olds who, like, say like, like, all the time and have that whole, like, thing going on there.
I KNOW this is what Gene wanted. He never wanted Trek to be about issues and metaphors and social commentary or the human condition, he just cared about magnificent CGI (like his hand in space in “who mourns for adonis”). For him, it was ALL about money and special effects. THAT is what sustained star trek and made it so sucessful for 40 years. We’re in good, slippery hands! Why not bring back Brannon and Braga? Maybe we can knockoff Spock in this one too! Maybe he’ll stop the romulans from killing kirk and then get shot in the back!!
They say that tragedies bring people closer. Maybe AFTER watching this film Shat and Takei will kiss and make up.

Just as the Enterprise C going through that rift, not only, allowed Tasha Yar to be alive and on the Enterprise. The Enterprise it self was different, the uniforms, even the characters (Picard being much more of a ‘war time” captain), this new film will contain an event similar, in which the time line changes…just like in Yesterdays.’

#480 – “Ironically maybe all this time travel-related destruction was part of what Future Guy and the Temporal Cold War was actually about and Star Trek: Enterprise really did end up being part of a different timeline!”

Perhaps, but it was never so established, nor did ENT do anything that expressly indicated that it was anything other than part of the same world as the rest of Trek. If the new film is as vague, I’ll be perfectly fine with it. I merely question whether that will be the case.

And besides there is a major difference between time line alterations due to a valid interference pattern and completely re-writing characters so they seem more ‘action film’ oriented. I mean why didn’t they just get bruce willis to play kirk and call it ‘die hard in an alternate time line, where nothing matters but revenue’?

Kirk not in the academy? Yet everyone seems to think he is the most important thing this side of the Neutral zone?

#488 – “Furthermore, the possibility of interference with the past creating an alternate timeline is in itself ‘canon’ (and has been for over 40 years).”

This is absolutely true. It’s why I try not to speak of canon, but rather of continuity, or specifically in terms of a common Trekverse that all filmed Trek to date (or at least all filmed Trek except maybe this new movie?) has shared.

#491—Nothing that costs money is sustained for the public for 4 decades without being ‘about’ money to some degree.

When I think of Star Trek, I think of adventure. I think of Captain James Kirk fistfghting and fornicating his way across the Enterprise. I think of Spock and McCoy verbally sparring over philosophical differences and the human condition. I think of Scotty performing a miracle or two to save the Enterprise. I think of the occasional statement on a social issue or two. Above all, I think of the optimism necessary to imagine a scenario in which the human species is not erased by the 23rd Century, but has progressed to reach heights which are nearly unimaginable now.

I have not seen, nor have I heard, anything which suggests that this film will miss any of that.

I am a man who has been in combat, seen the effects of disease, hunger, torture, genocide, religious and ethnic intolerance, and everything else you can think of that plagues us as a people…as one race.

Despite all of that—-I don’t have to be 13-29 to be optimistic about the future of my children, and their children, and so on….or to enjoy a good Kirk fist fight, a well-executed Vulcan neck pinch, or a good McCoy quip.

#495—-“It’s why I try not to speak of canon, but rather of continuity, or specifically in terms of a common Trekverse…”

I know you do, which is why I fail to understand how you can disregard the fact that the very continuity built for 40+ years within the Star Trek Universe has lead us to this point in the ongoing story.

That’s why I say it is more of a “sequel” to the previous films than it is a “prequel”, and it certainly cannot be defined as a “reboot”, since everything that happened before is necessary for this story to unfold.

None of it is ‘disregarded’, IMO. It is still very relevant in my eyes.

I was told by a friend of yours today that the music in the trailer is not from Giacchino as that wasn’t ready yet. I did send some emails to clarify this. are you sure it was Giacchino (except for that Courage sting at the very end with the logo)

I actually do have a question about the creative process, and in no way am I trying to imply it’s done badly. Why use the time travel element as the catalyst to tell this story? Could the story just show Kirk taking command without having Temporally warring Romulans? Not trying to criticize, just interested in the elements of the creative process which led to THIS Trek story.

Please tell me you didn’t write this story for teenagers. If “The Cage” was condemned for being “too cerebral” this sounds too juvenile.

Do we really need to see Kirk grabbing some chick’s boobs? Haha. Very funny. James “Tomcat” Kirk is hetero. I feel so validated!

Badboy Jimmy gets himself kicked off a deployed warship because he can’t behave himself? Hey man, no one gets kicked off a warship during wartime, unless they are really really really really effed-up and then they end up at Leavenworth — not the skipper’s chair.

I walked out of that monstrosity reboot “Planet of the Apes” … just couldn’t stop the gag reflex, having watched the Wise/Heston classic the night before.

#498 – “#495—-‘It’s why I try not to speak of canon, but rather of continuity, or specifically in terms of a common Trekverse…’

I know you do, which is why I fail to understand how you can disregard the fact that the very continuity built for 40+ years within the Star Trek Universe has lead us to this point in the ongoing story.”

Maybe I’m not managing to get my idea across right. I understand and appreciate that the existing continuity brings us to the point where the catalyst for the plot of this film is set into motion. But if the result of the entire story is that we’re thrown into an alternate universe in which things may be radically, even profoundly, different than in the Trekverse that we know, and if the idea is that such a change is intended to be “permanent” from the point of view of what stories we, as viewers, will get to see from this point forward, then in my book, no matter what convoluted reasoning one uses, it’s still a reboot *in practice*, to wit, a restart in which what had previously been established is no longer relevant, because any such discussion of existing material is answered by simply saying, “We’re in a different universe now, so your point is irrelevant.”

So, yeah, there is an explanation within the bounds of canonical Trek, but it still has the net effect of a reboot. And I cannot endorse that effect.

In that sense, it would seem that the film is, as they’ve said, partly sequel, partly prequel, and partly reboot.

Now, obviously, if I’m wrong, if part of the journey of this film is to look at the Trekverse in different ways, but in the end, they follow the “Yesterday’s Enterprise” or “Year of Hell” examples, and the continuity is re-linked, going forward, to that of the other 10 movies and the 5 series, then I’ll eat my heaping plate of crow for my comments today and leave the theater a happy guy. :) But if not, if Trek ’09 is an “effective (or “backdoor”, if you prefer that term) reboot”, then I’ll be going to Shore Leave 31 on the money I didn’t spend buying movie tickets to “Star Trek”.

492. Databrain – November 11, 2008
“But in the end the established time line was restored….”

No, the timeline WASN’T restored.. by having Yar go back and captured by the Romulans… she has Sela. So the timeline looked as it it had returned… but it was different. one person going back in time changed it from that point forward.

So, that being said… the Kelvin being destroyed and Kirk’s father with it.. changed things from that point forward. And that is what you will see in this film more than likely. That would account for any and all changes that you are used to from TOS. things are similar but not exactly the same.

Creating a movie with entirely new crew would not get nearly enough attention (from Paramount or the fans) to warrent a movie, maybe a new show BUT not a new movie. After what happened with Enterprise (I mostly blame UPN) prospects on a new show were grim.

2nd- I they were going to use “old” characters, who would they use? And why?

Well, if you’re going to jump start a francise you gotta go back to the begining. Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise told all their stories from begining to end. First episode: the crew assembles for their first voyage, seasons 1 – 7 (or 4) crew has various character defining adventures, then the series finale: the ship or space station is decommissioned and the crew go their separate ways.( except TNG, however, for the past 4 movies, everyone was slowly, but surely going their separate ways.) What’s left The Original Series.

And finally– The Original Series? Why not.

The nobody knows how the crew first assembled or what happened on their first voyage. The pilot (The Cage) and series began, for all intents and purposes, in the “middle” of their story.

And unlike Trek’s later shows, TOS never really delve too deep into any of the crews’ pasts or their motivations in life (with the exception of Spock).

J.J., Bob and Alex are doing something with these characters, that no one has done before: creating a definitive origin story for the Enterprise and her crew.

Based on what I’ve seen and read so far…They are doing just that, and I couldn’t be any happier. Thanks guys. I’ll be there to see it on opening day.

‘No, the timeline WASN’T restored.. by having Yar go back and captured by the Romulans… she has Sela. So the timeline looked as it it had returned… but it was different. one person going back in time changed it from that point forward.’

Yes but Picard and company didn’t realize the overall effect of this until Redemption, when they came into direct conflict with Sela. And the alterations in the time line didn’t turn Picard and his crew into Bruce Willis’s and Tom Cruise’s. Using the ‘time line’ variable just seems like a cheap way of mucking up characters and turning them into action film caricatures of their former selves. NOT what trek was ever about.

Thanks Anthony for a great blog.
Thanks JJ, Bobocri and all the others to try their best to make a good ST-Movie. I’ll always give you the benefit of the doubt until I see the movie. I don’t like everything which has been released so far, but the most of it.

Again, I try to judge the movie when I see it. Not before, based on some little things which have been released. I guess this is much more healthier to me..

You folks all realize that these reveals are happening now to give us fans time to blow up, argue the finer points, and give our feedback, right? This conversation is as good as a private screening I would imagine.

Not that I expect there to be any major changes but it might be used as market research to tweak some of the finer points….

#524: “#523 I’d be willing to see what Manny Coto might have come up with, or Ron Moore, or R.H. Wolfe, or Ira Steven Behr…. given the chance to revisit the TOS era…”

And there is no reason – no reason whatever – to think that any of those worthies would be on the studio’s short list to helm a big-budget theatrical version of “Star Trek.”

That includes Ron Moore, whose work on “Battlestar Galactica” is excellent beyond anything Trek has come up with in decades – because BSG’s commercial success and the size of its audience has not been such that he has (perhaps yet) become a go-to guy in the megabucks movie arena.

All this is great and stuff but where are the clips? footage? THE TRAILER? The Star Trek community is dropping the ball on this one if they can’t get a single leaked scene of the trailer. I mean, c’mon, didn’t they start the whole online community/forum thing? They invented it!!! Someone please post clips!!!

If I can take a stab at the discrepencies we are seeing (Kirk and Pike meeting, The different look of the Enterprise et, al)…I believe that we are seeing a divergence in the Trek timeline caused by those rascally Romulans who go back in time and try and blow the snot out of Kirk or Kirk’s father, to give the Romulans an advantage in the future that they didn’t have when Kirk destroyed their secret weapon in “Balance of Terror”. If these Romulans destroy the Kelvin in the past, then the entire Trek timeline is altered from then on, thus, Starfleet would do as they did when they met the Borg, re-design their ships to be “heartier”, “faster”, with better defenses, etc. This would explain why Damon and JJ are saying things like this film still fits within the cannon and would explain why the enterprise looks more advanced than it’s 1960’s counterpart. Just my take. Can’t wait til Friday!

Bob Orci: “We will make no excuses about bending canon. If you see the movie, you will either agree with our final solution, or you won’t. But it’s too early to tell right. Just hoping for an open mind.”

BaronByng:”… by ‘final solution’ you mean there’s something we have to see the movie to understand, right…? Something not evident in a bunch of movie stills?”

#531—“And you should be ashamed of yourself for a drive by post with nothing to back it up.”

I’ve made my views on the new/old Enterprise quite clear in the thread dedicated to that subject.

This one is about the 20 minutes of footage from the film reviewed by reporters in the UK.

I’m afraid my opinion of the Enterprise image is different from yours. My point to you is that, while you have every right to feel however you want about it, that’s quite different from telling other fans how they should feel about it.

I am a grown man, and quite capable of determining for myself how asthetically appealing it is. That isn’t for you to determine for me, nor should I be ‘ashamed’ that my opinion differs from yours.

I didn’t feel that my response to your post needed further clarification, but since you require it anyway….there it is.

Not digging the new Enterprise inside or out. And what’s up with the exposed printed circuit board looking things on the bridge? You would never do that with a mission critical system. It’s like putting the motherboard on the outside of your PowerBook, duh. It looks cheesier than the Lost In Space remake.

I bet these guys would make the actors work in front of a green screen to do their scenes with CG’d tribbles that, oh by the way, now have a single eye that extends from a pouch.

It’s also interesting to note how they’ve circled the wagons in an attempt to give themselves credibility and appear as nice guys by enlisting Nimoy, James Cawley and the late Dr. Randy Pausch.

Which reminds me f the old Abraham Lincoln story:

Abraham Lincoln posed this question: “How many legs does a dog have?” The reply of course was four.

Lincoln asked, “If we call the tail a leg, then how many legs does a dog have?” The reply: Five.

“No,” Lincoln said, “Just because you call a tail a leg doesn’t make it so.”

Well guys, just because you call it Star Trek doesn’t make it so.

I wish JJ would open up that damn silly Mystery Box. Perhaps he’ll find a clue inside.

If not, the box of really dead Sea Monkeys in there deserve a proper burial.

OK, Enterprise being built on the ground?? Oy. I am trying to go into this with the mindset of “this is an alternate timeline Trek” ala the Mirror universe. Even with all the disregard for c*non I will see it and give it a fair shot.

“I thought you were some dumb hick who only has sex with farm animals”

– I don’t know, but isn’t this an awfully ethnocentrc, almost racist remark, coming from Uhura? I’m no “hick” myself, but even using such a term seems rather extreme. They wouldn’t have those kinds of hate labels in the Star Trek I grew up on. Especially not from the crew.

wtf…I was looking forward to this trek movie more than any other, but now that the details are being released, I find this ‘reboot’ of Trek to be full of holes….The Enterprise looks retarded, and what is this crap about ‘Adiral Archer’s Beagle’? He died in 2245 the day after the launch of 1701 under April, and u are telling me that somehow Porthos survived into the 2250’s? (Trek explanation or not, thats just way to much for me) Waaay too many inconsistancies already in just the few scenes that have been described. My excitment level went from warp 9.9 down to one quarter impulse. Thumbs down for Abrams for already fracking up the timeline with lots of nonsence. No Gary Mitchell, no Finney, no Ruth, and whats this about Uhura having a Budweiser and a Cardassian drink? Ask any Trekkie what they think of a Cardassian drink in a human bar in the 2250’s? No one knew who the damn Cardy’s were until the first half of the 24th century. This movie is basically ignoring all that Trek has written for the time period Abrams is tackling. I undersatnd this is a reboot, and I still hope it does well, but we keep hearing repeatadly that this movie will be for the fans as well, and us fans are picky about or canonical Trek material, and this film seems to ignore all of what has passed in the Trek timeline. I do love how they somehow got an Archer reference, but with his 100 year old Beagle? Come on, who was sniffing glue when they slapped this monstrosity together?

Hey. Not to blow the Robert April “canon or not canon” argument, but it seems, at least from a pic seen from the trailer of Star Trek XI, that Paul McGillion (the guy who played the scottish doctor on Stargate Atlantis, for those of you who’ve seen that show) might be playing Robert April.

That is, JJ Abrams said that he tried out for the role of Scotty, and said they were EXTREMELY impressed with his performance, but they went with the other guy since he was (1) well known in the movie business and (2) they had worked with him before in MI3. Abrams said he was so impressed with his audition, though, that he really wanted to include McGillion in the movie in some small one scene part. The part is supposed to be a surprise but Abrams mentioned that he was cast in a role that would be an homage to the original series and that he was NOT a red shirt.

In the trailer, there’s a quick scene where he’s depicted as a sort of starfleet instructor. People were speculating that he’d be Finnegan or Robert April (no other role would make any sense since there’s not many roles left that could be an homage to TOS) since Finnegan is Irish and Robert April is from the UK and McGillion would be able to pull off either accent. SO since Finnegan would not make any sense as a starfleet instructor, people are thinking he’ll be Robert April and it most certainly looks that way :)